Letter To The Editor: The World Needs More Abrars

The following letter to the editor was submitted by Thomas Friestad, a classmate who attended Robinson Secondary School with Fairfax County School Board member Abrar Omeish. The views expressed are the author's own. If you wish to submit a letter to the editor on a local topic, please email Emily.Leayman@patch.com.

I know Abrar from our shared time coming up through Robinson Secondary School's Class of 2013. More importantly, she made it a point to know and befriend most everyone in our group of 700-plus, and welcomed the chance to connect with those she had not yet encountered in the halls.

The broad consensus was that Abrar was destined for big things, likely through an ambitious tenure in public office. She hit the ground running: While several of us were doggy paddling through adolescence's turbulent waters, Abrar was soaring as a student representative on multiple Fairfax County Public Schools committees. Her commitment to inclusion and collaborative spirit were evident as she worked with Robinson faculty to ensure the school's Muslim students had space to pray in accordance with the pillars of Islam.

Years later, Abrar will wish us well in our life trajectories with kind words on our class Facebook page. When one of my best friends and our mutual classmate died at 24, Abrar used her platform to raise awareness and solicit donations for foundations supporting others with the medical disorders he fought.

I have been overjoyed seeing Abrar continue to shine as a righteous beacon on the FCPS School Board, and in her remarks to Justice High School's 2021 graduating class. With gusto, Abrar challenged students to live up to their school's name, to rise in the face of adversity and give a voice to the voiceless along the long road to justice.

"You are walking into a world that will be uncomfortable when you seek to cause good trouble," she said, in a nod to the late U.S. Rep. and civil rights activist John Lewis. "As we speak, there are those who see the ways you are different before they see your humanity, and they seek to divide us." Abrar later encouraged listeners to maintain an undying spirit and unwavering moral compass, "even when it seems the entire world is against you."

The vitriol directed at Abrar after she referenced white supremacy — among other ongoing issues like growing wealth gaps and the climate crisis — underscores the need to call the phenomenon out. So do other symptoms, past and present. Abrar delivered her remarks at a minority-majority high school that, up until 2017, was named after a Confederate general. School board members in 1959 chose the original name, J.E.B. Stuart, during a racist backlash to the Supreme Court's desegregation order in Brown v. Board of Education.

Today, our status quo is one where smarmy consultants can rake in big bucks churning out buzzwords ("critical race theory," "cancel culture," "antifa") for shameless politicians to parrot in bids for relevance. They wield these phrases as cudgels primarily against female or non-white officials, with callous disregard for the death threats incited against them. Indeed, those most loudly trumpeting their outrage over Abrar's speech have zero interest engaging with its substance. Why bother, when there's partisan gain in laundering isolated snippets through the right-wing media machine?

Recent anti-Muslim social media posts about Abrar break my heart, but I take solace in knowing how little power they have to dislodge her from her journey of radical empathy. As Abrar knowingly told students, practicing courage and uplifting others is how you land on the right side of history, no matter how many detractors surface — "Just consider them your cheerleaders of another breed. When they try to bury you, remind them you are a seed."

In reality, the anonymous users spewing bigotry are making Bluster's Last Stand. A new generation of political leaders like Abrar is emerging, focused on solving key local issues instead of pandering to grievance. In the past few months, Abrar has spotlighted multimillion-dollar budget gaps that keep FCPS from meeting optimal student teacher ratios and helped ensure staff leave requests are granted for all religious and cultural observances.

The world could use more Abrars, and will get them as her example inspires others to run for and win at all levels of government. In the meantime, I'll settle for seeing how the Abrar I am fortunate to call a friend chooses to make a meaningful difference next.