Photos: Residents Chalk 1,265 Names at Lake Anne Plaza to Honor Black Lives

More than 1,000 names of black people shot and killed by police in the last five years now don the sidewalks of Lake Anne Plaza.

Local residents spent much of Saturday morning chalking the names of 1,265 people with sidewalk chalk. Organizer Kaila Drayton, a said she wanted to take the time to honor individuals who lost their lives due to police brutality.

“I wanted to create a space where people from the local community could join in, help write names and have a conversation,” Drayton said. “The recent news of George Floyd’s death is both devastating and familiar to those of us in the black community.”

Drayton and two friends began around 8 a.m. on Sunday. The project took about four hours. A little over two dozen people gathered to help write the names and fill in some letters, including Black Lives Matter.

They also included a note about the project and a large message: “Reston, say their names.”

Lake Anne Village Center was the first village of Reston, a planned community. Founder Bob Simon sought to create an integrated community in the state before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In 2004, a bronze statue of Simon — dubbed “bronze bob” — was installed on a bench in Lake Anne Plaza.

It now includes a cardboard sign that reads “Black Lives Matter” around his neck. 

Photos via Kaila Drayton