First lady of Virginia Pam Northam handed cotton to young African-American children on a tour of the governor’s mansion and asked them to imagine being slaves in the fields, the mother of one of the children alleged.
Leah Dozier Walker, a state employee who is the director of the Office of Equity and Community Engagement at the Virginia Department of Education, wrote to Pam Northam’s office on Monday alleging that on a tour for state Senate pages, the first lady spoke in the mansion’s kitchen cottage – where slaves used to work – and gave black pages, including Walker’s eighth grade daughter, pieces of cotton. Walker’s daughter has said she did not take the cotton.
“During the tour of the Mansion Cottage, (Walker’s daughter) and two of her (fellow) pages were asked to hold cotton that the First Lady retrieved from a bowl on a nearby table,” Walker wrote in the letter. “Mrs. Northam then asked these three pages (the only African-American pages in the program) if they could imagine what it must have been like to pick cotton all day.”
That wacky first couple in Virginia is at it again. Weird that she only handed the cotton to the black pages.
I know that you don’t follow stories, just post crap for sake of posting it, but literally every Democrat of note related to Virginia told Northam to resign.
After Meadows told a crowd that in 2012 they (Republicans) were going to send Obama back to Kenya, or wherever it is, since Republicans didn’t get rid of their guy, I assume Republicans think Meadows did nothing wrong.
I heard it on the radio while driving and admit it didn’t seem like all that much without the visual. Watching the TiVO’d hearings later painted a different picture.
I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask today’s youth to imagine what it was like to be a slave when giving a tour of slaves quarters or work areas in the mansion.
I believe it is likely very true that she has done this same thing during the tour as she said and apparently hands out cotton or tobacco to both whites and blacks.
I applaud her reaching out to the page and inviting her back for an in person apology and I think this is a situation where something is being completely overblown because of the revelations about her husbands yearbook photo.
I sort of agree with you but politics is all about optics and perception. It was at the very least an insensitive thing to say.
I do not think there was any malice of racism intended but come on, lets get real for a moment, I am not even in politics and I would never say that to an african-american child. A group of children yes I would say that but I would also be sensitive to the demographics of the group.
If you want to be in politics then you need to congizant of your words.
