[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 173 (Wednesday, January 2, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SHARING A NEWS STORY ON THE PROUD TRADITION OF INCLUSIVENESS FOUND IN 
                              RESTON, VA.

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                        HON. GERALD E. CONNOLLY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 2, 2013

  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise to share with my 
colleagues a poignant story from a local newspaper about the 
experiences of a prominent African-American veteran and corporate 
leader in our community who was an early pioneer in breaking down the 
barriers of segregation. When Carlos Campbell and his family settled in 
Northern Virginia in the late 1960s, they found a certain amount of 
intolerance, but they were pleasantly surprised by the welcome they 
received in the new town of Reston, which at the time was a rare 
``open'' community in Virginia. This story about Mr. Campbell, as 
reported by Gregg MacDonald of The Fairfax Times, is just one of the 
many things that make Reston such a wonderful community, which I am 
proud to represent.

                        [From the Fairfax Times]

    Navy Pilot, Board Director Recalls Life in Reston as an African 
                                American

                          (By Gregg MacDonald)

       As a young African-American boy growing up in Harlem, 
     Carlos C. Campbell, now 75, lived two streets down from 
     Brooklyn Dodgers baseball player Jackie Robinson and used to 
     wave at Robinson as he left his home on the way to Ebbets 
     Field.
       He later befriended jazz and football legends Dizzy 
     Gillespie and Jim Brown, and worked as an actor with Charlton 
     Heston and Robert Wagner and as a musician with jazz drummer 
     Buddy Rich. He has written books, made films, flown planes 
     for the U.S. Navy, worked for former President Ronald Reagan 
     and the Defense Intelligence Agency, for the Department of 
     Housing and Urban Development as a city planner, and was 
     elected to the D100 as one of the most influential directors 
     of corporate boards by the National Association of Corporate 
     Directors.
       But when Campbell moved to Northern Virginia in 1968, he 
     said that because of segregation and discrimination, he could 
     not buy a home.
       ``I looked at 39 different places and it was always the 
     same line,'' he said. ``I'm sorry, sir, we do not practice 
     open occupancy. It was very humiliating to be turned down for 
     a residence for someone who had served his country during the 
     Cuban Missile Crisis and had resolved to die if that's what 
     it took to protect it.''
       Campbell said that while he was looking, he remembered a 
     place called Reston that he had read about while a Navy 
     aviator. ``In 1965 or so, Reston had gotten a lot of ink as 
     an open community, so I eventually remembered hearing about 
     it and decided to check it out.''
       Chuck Veatch, an early Reston sales employee, remembers 
     that time well.
       ``Because Reston in the 1960s was an `open' community 
     within a segregated state that had no fair housing laws, we 
     had a hard time with market resistance in terms of blacks,'' 
     Veatch said. ``We in Reston had no issues at all, but because 
     Realtors did not sell our homes there was some resentment, 
     and the real estate brokerage community used the race card 
     against us, to sell against us, and tell people they didn't 
     want to live in Reston.''
       Married and with two daughters, Campbell purchased his 
     first Reston home, in Vantage Hill, in October 1968. He soon 
     went to work for the Department of Housing and Urban 
     Development in Washington, D.C.
       ``It was great to finally be able to find a community in 
     which we were tolerated,'' he said. ``But it was still no 
     piece of cake.''
       Campbell estimates that at that time, Reston consisted of 
     about 1,500 people, about four percent of whom were African 
     American.
       ``There was a group of Reston African Americans formed back 
     then who called themselves the Reston Black Focus. I wasn't 
     initially a part of the group, but they would have get-
     togethers and invite everyone. Afterwards random people would 
     come up to me and say, `Man, you guys throw great parties' 
     and I would say, `OK, thanks.' ''
       According to Campbell, although Reston was an open 
     community, the surrounding areas of Fairfax County still were 
     not quite there yet.
       ``Leaving Reston, we would be reminded of what it was 
     really like,'' he said.
       ``Everywhere I went, people in their cars slowed down and 
     asked me if I was a Washington Redskin, but I guess that was 
     better than them yelling `nigger' out of the window as they 
     went by, which also would happen.''
       Campbell said his family also felt the effects of 
     discrimination.
       ``Beauty parlors would refuse to style my wife's hair, and 
     a swimming pool once closed down, rather than let my little 
     girl get in the water,'' he said.
       Campbell said that even in Reston during that time, African 
     Americans often were under a microscope, and whites were not 
     sure how to interact with them. On several occasions he said 
     he discovered people rifling through his garbage cans, who 
     then ran off when confronted.
       ``I would also occasionally get a knock on my door and 
     someone would ask me what I did for a living, or ask me if I 
     needed a job,'' he said. ``I also used to jog and would 
     invariably get stopped by police who would often say they 
     were looking for a robbery suspect.''
       But overall, Campbell said life in Reston was always 
     positive. He later moved to Golf Course Island in 1970, but 
     has remained in Reston for 44 years.
       ``Reston was always a great place,'' he said. ``As an 
     African American here, I was always tolerated, and as the 
     years went by, Reston transcended that tolerance into 
     acceptance. I felt less like a guinea pig and more of a 
     citizen and a member of this community. Discrimination and 
     intolerance still exist, but it is not as overt as it once 
     was. I am glad Reston existed when it did and I'm content to 
     continue living here and giving back.''

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