Blacksburg, Virginia’s Chief of Police, Anthony Wilson, joined me to share his changemaker journey using our four-part framework “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World”. You can view the inspiring 25-minute conversation below and read on to learn how this community leader, who was first on the scene as a SWAT team officer during the horrific 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, has worked to create triumph out of tragedy. We won’t dwell on that incident here, but it is important to mention because that day and the days that followed are such an integral part of Chief Wilson’s journey as a leader of change since that time.
Hometown and Homegrown
As a kid growing up in Blacksburg from the age of ten, Anthony enjoyed the benefits of a small town close to nature. His father was the Provost of Virginia Tech. With the top academic officer at the local university in his home, Anthony describes himself as less academically inclined. Scholarship was not his forte, but he enjoyed having fun floating the nearby New River that still attracts high school and college students alike. He wasn’t a “bad kid”, just one who often put fun in the sun above his school performance.
When he finished high school, he wasn’t yet ready to continue his education.
“So, I ended up going in the Marine Corps, and that was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
In the Marine Corps, he grew from a self-described undisciplined and directionless kid into a young man who had a greater understanding of life and the values he holds dear. At the end of his tour, he married and explored the country with his new wife and an eye toward finding the best place for them to live.
“We got out to California and, we took our time as a young couple. We had no strings attached. Where would we go? And, lo and behold, we couldn’t find any place better than here.”
Back in Blacksburg, Anthony was now ready for college. He completed a degree in Agriculture from Virginia Tech and proceeded to work in the private sector for a few years. He became a father and was doing well, but something seemed to be missing.
“There was a part of me that really missed serving and being part of a team and being part of something bigger.”
Seeking Solutions
Anthony found that opportunity to serve by volunteering with the local fire department. He’s continued doing so for more than thirty years. In this role, he established himself as an active and engaged community member. Soon someone suggested that he might be interested in broadening his service into the realm of law enforcement.
He found this idea intriguing and joined the Blacksburg Police Department. He has found the work to be highly satisfying despite the lower wages inherent in public service. Police work came naturally to him because of the high value he places on serving his community. Unlike the perceived role of police officers as “enforcers”, Chief Wilson began early on working to build relationships as his primary approach to do his job well.
By encouraging, sometimes rowdy, college students to take care of each other and to look to their police department as a resource rather than an adversary, he builds connections and trust among the community he serves.
“Working in a college community is the coolest, toughest job you’ll ever have because our demographics are 18 to 24 years olds.
… this is where you come to get your “weird on” … so if you want to sit on the drill field and you want to joust with pool noodles, that’s why you’re in Blacksburg, Virginia.”
Chief Wilson’s solutions are about protecting the students and the rest of the community and maintaining that very delicate balance of allowing them to find out who they are while providing a safe environment for everyone.
He’s especially proud of the educational programs and partnerships the police department fosters with the local public schools. Police officers are present in every school in Blacksburg, not just to offer security, but to teach students about how to tackle problems collectively and to value the bonds of community.
“We have a really great fifth grade field day where we bring all the elementary schools together. It’s the first time they see their graduating class and we just put them all in a pile and we spread them out into teams, and they have a healthy day of fun.”
As these new classmates enter the middle and high schools together, officers continue to be there to support and encourage those who need something extra.
Relationships built over time help issues and needs become apparent. Some students never hear the word “college” in their homes. The police department has difficulty at times recruiting qualified candidates into its ranks.
These realities and many conversations across community groups including the Montgomery County “Dialogue on Race” (DOR) led Chief Wilson to work with others to create an exciting program to help fill both the need for further education for students and the need for police officers for Blacksburg. He calls that program “Books and Badges.”
“Books and Badges” was a direct outgrowth of the DOR’s charge to their Law Enforcement Issue Group. Blacksburg Police Department along with the nearby Christiansburg Police Department and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department, was tasked with assuring that implicit bias is removed from the equation in enforcing the law and that the ranks of officers reflect the diversity of the community they serve. This work requires honest conversation, transparency and intentional hiring practices. (Note: You will have the opportunity to learn more about the important work of the Dialogue on Race in an upcoming Changemaker Interview with one of the founding members of that initiative, Penny Franklin.)
To make the Books and Badges program a reality, Chief Wilson raises funds through local community groups to finance two years of community college for students who perform 80 hours of community service with the Police Department. This gives them education and an internship that opens the possibility of entering the police force to students who may not have considered doing so.
The program has expanded to include free tuition for any student who qualifies to attend the local New River Community College. The ACCE (Access to Community College Education) Program is now thriving in our community and others nearby. Whether or not students choose to enter law enforcement, Chief Wilson’s work to lead this effort is a huge investment in the community as a whole. Students come out as stronger citizens with greater capacity to invest in their own lives and the lives of those around them.
“We’re never gonna arrest our way out of poverty, out of historic criminal behavior, generational poverty. We can’t arrest our way out. We can’t subsidize our way out. We have to educate our way out…”
Chief Wilson supervises the community service portion of the program himself. What started as a two-year commitment because there was no funding for a full-time position, has continued into its fourth year because Chief Wilson believes it’s the best thing he does. He not only gets to interact with the kids but also “funnels them to some of the best people within the community”. He beams when he reports that many of the students wind up voluntarily performing ten times the required 80 hours of community service because they find a real passion for the work they are assigned.
Patchwork Blacksburg
The Dialogue on Race has been an important recognition of Blacksburg’s (and Montgomery County’s) bright patchwork of diversity. By coming together around issues of equity, representation and justice, we are acknowledging the historic challenges that linger among us still today as we work to overcome them.
The intricate patchwork of our university town is also represented in those who make Blacksburg home on a temporary basis. A diverse community that welcomes different cultures and different philosophies is one of the special beauties of living in close proximity to a large institution of higher education. Seeing life through the perspectives of others is an expectation and a life skill one cannot function well without here.
“We’re in the middle of Southwest Virginia, this little mountainous town that has this enormous amount of youth and energy, but it also has folks from all over the world.”
Chief Wilson reflects on the information we are “blasted with” about violence and unrest around the world. While people find it unsettling, he cites multiple incidents of how people in Blacksburg come together to support one another in the face of world events. He believes that:
“…the healthiest thing that we've seen is to be able to respond inwardly that there are real solutions to your anxiety about world events that are locked in (local) community involvement.”
Two almost simultaneous national events having tremendous impact worldwide serve as his examples, the recent bombings of a mosque in New Zealand and a synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA in the United States. In both cases, communities of faith wanted to reach out and provide support, but uncertainty prevailed.
In Blacksburg, however, our mayor and a town council member worked with community leaders like Chief Wilson to get something positive going.
“We’ve just started the ground roots effort of, getting together a small group, getting some representation from the faith base and from the government to simply say, ‘how do we channel Blacksburg inwardly and to allow people to express their remorse, their support (in response) to national events, but in a local setting?' “
This extra effort is being called “Compassionate Communities” and Chief Wilson believes the local approach to world events is key to our wellbeing. If we redirect our energy towards solving local community issues to induce peace, we can bring the peace we crave to one another right here at home in a way that contributes to a safer world.
Ripples of Blacksburg
“April 16th was the darkest day. The 17th was the brightest. And that candlelight vigil, was the first time I can remember where town citizen, county citizen, high school kid, elementary school kid, Virginia Tech student, faculty, staff from all walks of life came together in one place and said, ‘we’re here for each other and … this doesn’t define us, that violence will not define us!' ”
The initiatives described previously here happened mostly after April 17, 2007. On that “day after”, Chief Wilson witnessed the gathering of thousands of students, families, neighbors, friends and strangers on the Drill Field to mourn together, to care for one another and to declare aloud that the horrors of the previous day would not be our legacy. Chief Wilson describes that day as a turning point for his community. Tragedy taught him that people often look through a single lens, especially when police work is concerned. They tend to attempt solutions that ignore the wisdom of others right beside them.
Under his leadership, Blacksburg is trying to change that.
“This is Home” has become a Virginia Tech motto since that dark day. For those of us who’ve been here for over 40 years, it has been home for a very long time. What we’ve learned is that if we succeed in making it homelike and hospitable for most anyone who is fortunate enough to call it their home for even a short time, there is great potential for the good in Blacksburg to ripple out for good in the rest of the world.
“That part's catching on… we're growing as a community too. And I think it's interesting when I get in front of a group to talk about (how), we only really and truly build one thing here…that's college graduates…We have to build the community that they want to emulate when they go somewhere else. It's our mission…While there's so many hours and so many curriculum things that have to happen to graduate and get a diploma, we have the whole other side of the coin. …How do we want these little seeds to spread throughout the world? That's probably the most interesting part of this dynamic is that we have this opportunity to do something so huge, so magnificent, because we get a constant flow of these folks coming in from all over the world. And if we just simply strive to do it better here, if this is the best four years on the planet, I guarantee the majority of them will go out (and try to find it). And if they can't seek it out, they'll create it.”
By working across the patchwork to find solutions to the challenges that face this homegrown changemaker, Chief Wilson helps to create the vibrant learning community that hosts thousands from all over the world one year at a time. In this way, the lessons of Blacksburg become lessons for the world.
(Note: Blue Roads Education Group is working to celebrate and cultivate changemakers, like Chief Wilson, who can help us all to realize the Global Goals established by the United Nations. It is apparent from his work that Chief Wilson is working actively on these goals, called the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, including #3 – Good Health and Well Being, #4 – Quality Education, #10 – Reduced Inequalities, #16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions and #17 – Partnerships for the Goals. You can learn more about the Global Goals here.)
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