About the Panelists

Brenda Cox is a longtime Arlington resident. She was born in Freedman’s Hospital, as her parents were part of the Great Migration from Raleigh, North Carolina, first coming to Washington, D.C. and moving to Arlington in 1951 when she was three years old. Ms. Cox grew up in Dunbar Homes in Green Valley before her family moved to Johnson's Hill in 1959. Brenda walked to Hoffman-Boston Junior-Senior High School for grades seven through eleven. As the last graduating class for that school was in 1964, she was bussed to Wakefield High School about three miles away for her senior year. She is a retired librarian who believes strongly in connecting her community members with information. She started a senior ministry program at Lomax A.M.E. Zion Church which has been meeting monthly for 23 years. Additionally, until recently she was a Board Member of the Arlington Neighborhood Village. She has served as a de facto archivist, ensuring that her community's experiences and memories are becoming part of Arlington's collective record.

Saundra Green is a longtime Arlington resident who grew up in Hall’s Hill. She started her career as a Community Organizer with the United Planning Organization, when she came to understand the depth of race-based economic disparity in Arlington. She strove to connect residents to County services and programs. For thirty-three years she worked for Arlington County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources where, among other things, she advocated for fair funding and allocation of County resources and opportunities for minority communities. When she saw a need, she sought to fill it, organizing the Junior Jamboree program for teens and the Arlington Youth Street Theater. She is a lifelong member of the Calloway United Methodist Church in High View Park, and is proud to serve as a member of the Hall’s Hill/High View Park Historic Preservation Coalition and the advisor to Neighbor’s Corner Senior Adult Club.  

Walter Naegle is an American artist and photographer who is the surviving partner of late American Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin, and the executive director of the Bayard Rustin Fund, which commemorates Rustin's life, values, and legacy. Walter serves as board member emeritus at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, an LGBTQIA "safe space," community activist center, and educational enclave dedicated to honoring Bayard Rustin through their mission and good works. 

Bennett Singer is a Los Angeles-based producer/director/writer whose films have been screened at The Smithsonian, The Kennedy Center, The United Nations, and the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. After serving as an associate producer on the Emmy-winning PBS series Eyes on the Prize II, he went on to co-direct Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin, a "potent and persuasive piece of historical rediscovery" (Los Angeles Times) that premiered at Sundance, aired nationally on PBS, and won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary along with an NAACP Image Award nomination. Brother Outsider is currently streaming on Kanopy and Netflix and is being used to spark courageous conversations in support of workplace DEI initiatives. The former executive editor of TIME Magazine's education program, Singer also co-directed Electoral Dysfunction and CURED, and is the author or editor of five books. 

Julius D. “J.D.” Spain, Sr. (Moderator) is an Arlington community leader who wears many hats. J.D. is a combat veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was awarded the Legion of Merit. He retired after 26 years in service in 2016. He served a four-year diplomatic assignment in Brussels, Belgium at NATO, a one-year congressional fellowship in the U.S. Senate, a senior legislative advisor in the Pentagon and a federal investigator for the U.S. government. He served as the President of the NAACP Arlington Branch (2019-2022), upholding its mission and objectives as the nation's oldest civil rights organization, ensuring the political, educational, social, and economic equality of citizens, and eliminating racial prejudice.