County Board Chairman Walter Mabe’s remarks to Front Royal Unites rally

Following Friday’s peaceful march of over one thousand citizens calling for racial and social unity in our community and nation, the crowd including community leaders returned to Bing Crosby Stadium for remarks by a variety of people. Among them was County Board of Supervisors and COVID-19 Emergency Management Team Chairman Walter Mabe. Mabe made his remarks available to us, and they are printed in their entirety below:

Chairman Walt Mabe delivers the theme of social unity and ‘stronger together’… a recurring one in his remarks on our collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic health threat.

George Floyd is dead. Nothing we do here today will change that. What we can do is make his life, and his death, meaningful.

We’re gathered here for a variety of reasons. For many, it is to demonstrate and highlight the racial inequality that exists in our country. Some are here to pray for peace and for the wish that calm will prevail. Others simply hope this will be the start of a process to heal our country. I know there are many more good and valid motivations of those who are here and those that would be here if they could.

I look out among you and see diversity, young and old from all walks of life that have come together for a common purpose, the purpose of Community Unity.

I see a community of leaders, religious leaders, our County Sheriff and Front Royal Police Chief, and representatives of our elected bodies showing their reverence with members of our community.

Together we are making a statement just by being here, we are a peaceful assembly at a respectful distance from one another, united as a community.

I see strength and determination among us. Not just for this day, or this evening. I would like to see this continued going forward.

I see the ability to unify our community. Not just for this gathering, but to always remember that we must make a difference. Each of us can do better by leading and becoming the example of unity and fighting for those whose voices aren’t heard, and ensuring that every resident is treated with respect and equality under the eyes of the law. We are all the same, we are people and citizens of our beautiful county and town.

While this is a sad occasion to gather, there is also cause for celebration. We’re here celebrating freedom of assembly and the constitutional right to free speech. We’re freely and peacefully voicing our concerns here in Front Royal, in Warren County, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and in the United States of America.

For that we are grateful.

If we could, I’d ask all of us to join hands, but please, just do it symbolically… COVID-19 is still with us. We’re stronger together when we’re joined in a common purpose. Take that strength and use it to make your life and those around you, a better place. It’s the best way to give meaning to the memory of George Floyd.

I leave you with this quote from Martin Luther King, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.”

Thank you for coming and remember:

We are Stronger Together.

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