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Rep. Val Demings

@RepValDemings

Feb 5

“Always courageous,” U.S. Navy pilot Jesse LeRoy Brown was the U.S. Navy's first Black pilot, and the first Black naval officer killed in the Korean War. His heroism in service to our country earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross. #BlackHistoryMonth

His father took him to an air show at age six. As a paperboy, he read in the newspaper about pioneering Black aviators. He wrote to the White House to ask that Black Americans be allowed to fly. He'd look up from working in fields and say, "I'm going to fly one of those one day."

Following in the footsteps of his childhood hero, Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens, he attended Ohio State University, paying his way with jobs as a waiter, janitor, store clerk, dry cleaner, and boxcar loader, working until midnight but maintaining top grades.

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Rep. Val Demings

@RepValDemings

Feb 3

Jane Bolin was America's first Black female judge, the first in a long road towards equal justice under the law.

She once said, “those gains we have made were never graciously and generously granted. We have had to fight every inch of the way.” #BlackHistoryMonth

"Jane Bolin made history over and over."

She was the first Black woman to graduate from Yale Law School. The first Black woman to join the New York City Bar Association. She saw the barriers put up ahead of her, and broke through them.
cbs46.com/black-history-…

As a family court judge she was dedicated her life to children. That's a tough job. I remember during my own early career, before I became a police officer, when as a social worker it was often difficult to see a child in a tough situation and have limited tools to help.

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Rep. Val Demings

@RepValDemings

Feb 1

Dr. Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first Black woman in America to earn a degree as a medical doctor. Hospitals and pharmacies shunned her, but she persevered, bringing critical medical knowledge to poor communities. Here's her story. #BlackHistoryMonth

Rebecca entered medical school around the outbreak of the civil war, and graduated to become the only Black woman out of America's 54,543 known doctors. It's likely that during her life she never knew that she was America's first Black female doctor. pbs.org/newshour/healt….

She moved to Virginia and found “the proper field for real missionary work," caring for "the least of these" by helping the Freedman’s Bureau assist over four million formerly-enslaved Americans make the transition to a free life.

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Rep. Val Demings

@RepValDemings

Dec 10, 2021

Extremist anti-choice politicians in Florida are already moving to copy Texas’s blatantly unconstitutional law with legislation that empowers bounty hunters to track patients and abortion providers.

The danger is not theoretical. We’ve seen anti-choice violence in Florida’s recent history. We must take action now to protect reproductive rights and the health and safety of Florida’s women.

I’m again calling on the U.S. Senate to immediately pass The Women’s Health Protection Act. Our right to control our bodies and our lives is a Constitutional guarantee and we must fight to protect our freedoms.

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Rep. Val Demings

@RepValDemings

Dec 9, 2021

The Chinese Communist Party’s ongoing genocide of the Uyghur ethnic minority in China is a crime against humanity.

Today I voted to crack down on goods made by forced labor in Xinjiang as part of the ethnic cleansing of the Uyghur people.

The Chinese Communist Party has lied and dissembled to cover up internment camps, torture, rape, and forced sterilization. They have attempted to eradicate the religious beliefs of the Uyghur people. It is evil, it is unacceptable, and we will fight it.

Despite efforts to politicize this issue, holding the Chinese Communist Party accountable has been a longstanding bipartisan mission, with both parties strongly in favor of cracking down on this authoritarian government and protecting the human rights of the Chinese people.

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Rep. Val Demings

@RepValDemings

Dec 8, 2021

Tonight we’re voting to prevent an automatic $36 billion cut to Medicare, plus a potential default that would wipe out six million jobs and $15 trillion in the retirement funds and other household wealth of American families.

Our tax dollars are precious, and we need to be responsible with our spending, not punish Florida seniors for Congress’ inability to come to reasonable solutions.

I believe in balanced budgets, and when I was Orlando’s Chief of Police we did more with less, working during the great recession to ensure that our dollars went directly to public safety initiatives.

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Rep. Val Demings

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Rep. Val Demings

Rep. Val Demings

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Rep. Val Demings

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