Lola FaduluIsaac Smith, a man , lost his race for Area Neighborhood Commissioner in the District鈥檚 Ward 8, which is predominantly Black. Smith, who is white, faced immense opposition as he made his final campaign push Tuesday outside the Union Temple Baptist Church, a vote center.
听鈥淭hank you for voting,鈥� said Richard Etienne Jr., Smith鈥檚 campaign manager, who is Black, as voters left the center Tuesday. 鈥淒id we get your vote today?鈥�
听鈥淎bsolutely not,鈥� one woman wearing a purple sweater responded as she exited the church and entered the nearby parking lot.
听Opponents said Smith shouldn鈥檛 have run and didn’t know the history of the community.
听鈥淗e has used a person of color to be his front person and cause arguments, while he sat silently and just watched on the sidelines,鈥� said Aiyi鈥檔ah Ford, an eighth generation Washingtonian, who also ran in the race and came in second place, winning 21% of the vote.
听Smith mostly stood by silently as Etienne Jr. defended his campaign.
鈥淚 just have one frustration because there’s been media involved in this race, and there鈥檚 been more media about me, my party affiliation, and everything else than there was about the 16-year-old boy who got shot on my block a couple of nights ago,鈥� Smith said, referring to Kareem Palmer, who early Sunday morning.
But opponents said he should talk to the mothers who lost children to gun violence. They said they hadn’t seen him at candlelight vigils for those lost to gun violence and was noticeably uncomfortable speaking to residents, noting how much his campaign manager spoke Tuesday.
听鈥淏elieve me, I believe in change through all people and if you made a change, I鈥檓 proud of you finding out the truth,鈥� said Patrice LeSane, 45, the sister of Robin McKinney who won the race. 鈥淏ut if you really want to make a change, stand behind the candidates: Aiyi鈥檔ah, Robin McKinney. Stand behind one of those ladies and show that you real. That’s how you show us that you’re real, you can’t come up here and just try to take over.鈥�
LeSane described her sister as a success story. McKinney was homeless with seven children at one point in her life, and is now a homeowner. LeSane said her sister intimately knows the struggles of living in Ward 8. McKinney ultimately won the race with 50% of the vote.
Smith worked in 2016 and 2017 with Jason Kessler to preserve the Robert E. Lee monument, which Charlottesville Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy called to be removed due to its ties to the Confederacy. Kessler went on to organize the Unite the Right white-nationalist rally which resulted in one woman dying and nineteen others getting injured.听
Smith Kessler once Kessler began making plans for the rally. 鈥淗e鈥檚 affiliated himself with people who are, to put it mildly, ideologically distasteful,鈥� Smith told Charlottesville鈥檚 Daily Progress in June 2017. 鈥淚 want nothing to do with that.鈥�
Despite his distancing, Black Lives Matter D.C. voiced concern by Smith鈥檚 campaign in Ward 8. April Goggans, an organizer for the group, recently that Smith has 鈥渁 nefarious agenda鈥� and is 鈥渋ntentionally misleading folks about his identity and political plans.鈥�
Local activists were unsure whether residents actually knew about Smith鈥檚 background. If they knew, they would not vote for him, Ward 8 Area Neighborhood Commissioner Charles Wilson told DCist.
Smith鈥檚 campaign was a sign that Ward 8 is rapidly gentrifying, local activists said. D.C. used to be known as 鈥淐hocolate City鈥� but most Black residents have been pushed to the outskirts of the city in Wards 5, 7 and 8 as housing has gotten more expensive. Officials are concerned that Black residents will soon be pushed out of those wards too. Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White that would prevent further displacement.
听鈥淭he harm that displacement and gentrification is having on our city is too great to be ignored,鈥� White said. 鈥淧eople are being forced out of their communities and their neighborhoods.鈥澨�
White, a D.C. Native won reelection, with 78% of the vote in Ward 8.
Wash staff
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