Given the misinformation & barrage of attacks by Thomas Gottwald (VMI ‘83), Spirit of VMI PAC, MAGA Republican Ben Cline, John Adams (VMI ‘96) & others, during this Black History Month, in the spirit of Shirley Chisholm of being “unbought and unbossed,” I want to be clear. VMI Board of Visitors President, McGuire Woods partner and Republican John Adams called me repeatedly and informed me that the VMI Board of Visitors no longer wants a Black Superintendent.

Today I’m releasing my plan to uplift and invest in rural communities across Virginia. For too long, rural Virginians have been left behind by the broken status quo. No one’s zip code should determine access to a quality education, good paying jobs, or quality healthcare. As Governor, I’ll fight to uplift every part of our Commonwealth. My plan ensures rural Virginians have an equal shot at securing a job with high wages and good benefits, quality healthcare, and a first-class public school education.

I’m not a part of the Virginia status quo. I am a daughter of Petersburg, Virginia, a former foster mom, a community organizer, and a public defender. I’m a fierce advocate for workers -- I’ve been endorsed by more unions in this race than my opponent -- and I fought hard to raise the minimum wage and expand Medicaid to 500k Virginians. Now, I’ve got plans to lift up all families across Virginia.

Virginia’s House of Delegates just passed the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. I want to highlight one important element of the bill: workplace sexual harassment. There are protections in place for employees, but domestic workers are traditionally excluded from these protections. We have to address how difficult it is for domestic workers, who are primarily women of color and immigrants, to come forward about sexual harassment and assault in their workplace. There is often no HR department for these workers. They face risk of losing their jobs, or worse.

Millions of Americans are working from home and coordinating home learning with their children’s schools.

But for hundreds of thousands of Virginians, their options for working from home or participating in virtual learning just aren’t there. There are 2 reasons why: First, though it might seem like everyone’s working from home during COVID-19, it couldn’t be further from the truth. The Washington Post covered the massive educational and racial divide in the ability to work from home.