Virginia's first lady gave cotton to black students and asked them to imagine being enslaved

[Judi Lynn]

NOOR AL-SIBAI
27 FEB 2019 AT 18:29 ET



Virginian first lady Pamela Northam gave cotton to black students and asked them to imagine being enslaved during a tour of the governor’s mansion — and one of the children’s parents complained in a letter to lawmakers.

The Washington Post reported that Mrs. Northam, wife of embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, made the offensive action last week in the midst of the controversy surrounding the governor’s yearbook page featuring a person in blackface.

Leah Dozier Walker, the director of the Virginia Education Department’s Office of Equity and Community Engagement, wrote to lawmakers and Northam’s office describing the incident, which her eighth-grade daughter experienced on February 21.

“The Governor and Mrs. Northam have asked the residents of the Commonwealth to forgive them for their racially insensitive past actions,” Walker wrote in her February 25 letter. “But the actions of Mrs. Northam, just last week, do not lead me to believe that this Governor’s office has taken seriously the harm and hurt they have caused African Americans in Virginia or that they are deserving of our forgiveness.”

More:
https://www.rawstory.com/2019/02/virginias-first-lady-gave-cotton-black-students-asked-imagine-enslaved/?utm_source=push_notifications

[LiberalFighter]

1. Wow!

[nycbos]

2. Dear god.

[CDerekGo]

3. credit - Forrest Gump

Cuz Stupid is, as Stupid Does

[Afromania]

4. Yea............ That one is for everybody on this board who thinks 1985 is a "long" time ago

[dlk]

5. How Truly Awful!

[area51]

6. Good grief.

[Liberalhammer]

7. Stop IT!

Why are we holding her to principles! Republicans show us principles and ethics are supposed to be situational!

[dhill926]

8. there's tone deaf...

and then there's fucking TONE DEAF! Jesus H....

[appalachiablue]

9. Unbelievable and insensitive.

Here's a thought- let the professionally trained docents/interpreters give tours of the exec. mansion and kitchen.

(WaPo) In her statement, Pam Northam said she will continue working to “thoughtfully and honestly” tell the story of the mansion’s enslaved workers. “I am still committed to chronicling the important history of the Historic Kitchen, and will continue to engage historians and experts on the best way to do so in the future,” she said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/virginia-first-lady-under-fire-for-handing-cotton-to-african-american-students-on-mansion-tour/ar-BBUaK2r?ocid=HPCOMMDHP15

[Paladin]

10. What the fuck, Virginia? (nt)

[appalachiablue]

11. Tell me again why we're supposed to woo middle class

and prof women in the suburbs?
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"The Commonwealth's first lady, Pam Northam, has been accused of handing out balls of cotton to black students during a tour of the governor's residence, according to the Washington Post. The first lady also asked the students on the tour to 'imagine being slaves.'

“The Governor and Mrs. Northam have asked the residents of the Commonwealth to forgive them for their racially insensitive past actions,” said Leah Dozier Walker to the Post. Walker oversees the Office of Equity and Community Engagement at the state Education Department.

“But the actions of Mrs. Northam, just last week, do not lead me to believe that this Governor’s office has taken seriously the harm and hurt they have caused African Americans in Virginia or that they are deserving of our forgiveness,” she wrote." https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/virginias-first-lady-accused-of-handing-out-cotton-to-black-students