I’m speaking today as part of powerful ceremony to commemorate the arrival of the first enslaved Africans on our shores, here at Point Comfort 400 years ago. Watch here: facebook.com/Commemorate201
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Conversation
We are here today for a commemoration and a reckoning. Today is a time to reckon with the fact that four hundred years ago, enslaved Africans arrived for the first time on Virginia shores.
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Ida B. Wells wrote that “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” If we are going to begin to truly right the wrongs of our four centuries of history, if we are going to turn the light of truth upon them, we have to start with ourselves.
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For too long, the burden has been on individuals and communities of color to lead these discussions. But if more of us have these hard conversations, and truly listen and learn from them, we’ll be better able to shine that light of truth.
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Virginia is a place of contradictions and complexity. We take a step forward and often a step back. And we have to acknowledge that. We have to teach that complexity to our children, and often to our adults. We are a state that for too long has told a false story of ourselves.
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Today I signed an executive directive to establish a Commission on African American History Education. This Commission will review our educational standards, instructional practices, content, and resources currently used to teach African American history in the Commonwealth.
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The legacy of racism continues as part of a system that touches every person and every aspect of our lives, whether we know it or not. If we’re serious about righting the wrong that began here at this place, we need to do more than talk. We need to take action.
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While we cannot change the past, we can use it and learn from it. When we know more, we can do more.
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As we reckon with the painful legacy of Virginia’s racist past, and acknowledge that it continues to shape our present, we can and must continue to act to improve the future. We must work to tell our full and true story.
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The Democrat party is a party of contradictions.
How are you still governor?
The false story will continue as long as you fail to hold yourself accountable for your own racist actions and resign.
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With all due respect, our governor should not be a symbol of those contradictions. We must move beyond them. #HumanSecurity #Northammustresign
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