Black Families in Fairfax City

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Fairfax City? 22030? There are exactly two Black kids in my child's very large elementary school. I don't see other Black families in town at all. I'm so confused. Plenty of Asian and Hispanic people but ot Black.

You obviously don't actually live here. There are way more than 2 Black children at both DRES and Providence ES.

I live in the City, however I'm not black. There are definitely more than two Black children at Providence. I know there are more than that at SACC alone our head SACC teacher is black and is wonderful and very loved by students and parents. We have a Black AP who has been at Providence for at least the 6 years I've had children at the school. We have black teachers, not a lot but we have them, hopefully we will get more in the future. The school is diverse in general, children of many races and ethnicities, also we have a lot of economic diversity that is not often seen in Fairfax County. I also know of a number of mixed Black/White families. Providence is a great school.

There are a ton of younger families in the city. Yes there are some folks of a different generation who don't want change, but their numbers are declining. We have a city school board that if you contact them they will respond. Our school board is all moms, all have kids in City schools, although one might have had there last child graduate last year. Our city council while not racially very diverse, has women, a Mason student and a senior citizen. We have a female progressive Mayor.

[Anonymous]

There are several black churches in Vienna. First Baptist isn't far from Fairfax City: https://www.fbcv.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any? I moved here from Alexandria and it's been a culture shock. I'm glad the area is more progressive than it used to be but I'm having a really hard time finding other Black families. I'm a single mom and my time is very limited. I'd rather not drive 45 minutes (with traffic) out of town but we will if we have to, I guess. I'd love to know of any nearby club or organization.

The Alexandria section of Fairfax has a lot of black families.

City of alexandria has even more than fairfax country alexandria.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beware. Fairfax City is still a very racist and dangerous place for Black families.

Dangerous? Do you have a cite for that?

[Anonymous]

The elementary schools are about 4% AA. Lanier Middle is about 10% AA. High School is 9.5 % AA. Fairfax County is about 5% AA.

[Anonymous]

I live in the city. My across the street neighbors are Black, but their kids are grown. My next door neighbors are also Black, but recent immigrants from Côte d'Ivoire, so different cultural experience.There are also young Black grad students down the block from me. At least in my neighborhood, we’ve got a mix- the above neighbors are just the black folk I know personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The elementary schools are about 4% AA. Lanier Middle is about 10% AA. High School is 9.5 % AA. Fairfax County is about 5% AA.

Fairfax County is 9.82% black but not sure about Fairfax City.

https://www.neilsberg.com/insights/fairfax-county-va-population-by-race/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, this is not really answering your question, bc I don't live in Fairfax but I was feeling for you. Fairfax City has a lot of nice young diverse families, but it also has a conservative old guard and not much of a Black population.
This might be an odd suggestion since you're not a student, but could GMU be a resource for you/your kid?
I was a grad student at GMU and there are a lot of Black organizations there--including for parents.
GMU was even just nice as an open community resource--my kid liked walking around with me there, going to Starbucks, going to Ike's (a cafeteria--but good, cheap and free (!) for kids 10 and under--you don't need to be a student/have an ID--you can just pay). Plenty of Black students undergrad and grad are usually there as well as community members especially on the weekends--in fact I met my best friend there because my kid went up and talked to her kid and they lived in the faculty/grad housing right near Mason so would go to Ike's regularly. There's often free family/community events on campus. There's a charge for parking in visitor lots, but you might be within walking distance depending on where you live too.
If you go, visit the new Wilkins plaza near the Johnson center-- named for the late Roger Wilkins--a Black civil rights activist who was a Mason Professor. A student led-project re-contextualized the George Mason statue--addressing his history as a slaveowner: https://dei.chss.gmu.edu/about/enslaved-people-of-george-mason. I took my kid to the opening of it and it was really interesting. Just make sure you go when campus is in session--when the semester is done (half of December, all of January) most things are shut down and the campus is empty.

Thank you for this excellent idea!! I'm excited to check it out. I've also been mulling over grad school so who knows, I may become a student. Thanks again!

You're welcome. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any? I moved here from Alexandria and it's been a culture shock. I'm glad the area is more progressive than it used to be but I'm having a really hard time finding other Black families. I'm a single mom and my time is very limited. I'd rather not drive 45 minutes (with traffic) out of town but we will if we have to, I guess. I'd love to know of any nearby club or organization.

Consider http://eip.gmu.edu

[Anonymous]

School Street by GMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Beware. Fairfax City is still a very racist and dangerous place for Black families.

Yes and they are also anti Semitic. They hate people that are not married, white, Catholic, with kids. This is true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beware. Fairfax City is still a very racist and dangerous place for Black families.

Yes and they are also anti Semitic. They hate people that are not married, white, Catholic, with kids. This is true.

False. City is very diverse and welcoming to all.

[Anonymous]

It's pretty funny to me that anyone looks at 4-10% AA population stats and thinks "Yes, we are a diverse population and there is a good representation of Black people here."

[Anonymous]

This is an old thread.

[Anonymous]

My neighborhood is about 75% white, 10% Asian, 10% Hispanic, and 5% or less black.