Black Virginia leaders condemn Earle-Sears’ comments about slaves, DEI

The Republican nominee for governor talks about race in ways that former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and Virginia Del. Candi Mundon King find “troubling.”

A recent fundraising email for Republican nominee for governor Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears begins, “Slaves did not die in the fields so that we could call ourselves victims now in 2025” and goes on to call diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) “nonsense.”

Earle-Sears’ campaign tried to distance itself from a similar email reported by Politico last month, but this time, reporting by Grace Panetta at The 19th appeared to show that Earle-Sears had indeed cosigned the fundraising message. Earle-Sears’ support for such a statement should not be surprising given there’s video of her saying virtually the same thing at a rally in Virginia Beach in 2024. 

“The enslaved did not die in the fields so that in 2024 we could still say that we are victims,” Earle-Sears said last year. 

The attempts by Earle-Sears, who is Black, to invoke the experience of slaves to fundraise and further her political career did not land well with other Black leaders in the state. 

“For her to say what others would say if they were alive today is a far stretch,” former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder said in an interview with Dogwood. 

Wilder’s grandparents were slaves and he remembers hearing about their experiences growing up. 

“When I hear that from Winsome, it’s troubling to me,” said Wilder, who in 1989 became the first elected Black governor in US history.

Earle-Sears’ outlandish remarks about slaves and her opposition to DEI come as she attempts to become the first Black female governor in the US — an approach Virginia Del. Candi Mundon King (D-Prince William) believes is a calculated decision. 

“I think she’s 100% pandering to the racist element in her party who feeds off of that type of rhetoric,” Mundon King said in an interview with Dogwood. “And I think it’s dangerous.” 

Mundon King is no stranger to the dangers of racist rhetoric – and the ways that Earle-Sears can miss the mark in addressing it. 

Mundon King posted on social media last month that it was hypocritical of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin to attend a celebration of Brown v Board of Education, the US Supreme Court ruling declaring segregation in public schools unconstitutional, after vetoing legislation that would have allowed two African-American history courses to count towards the state’s graduation requirements for history. 

An anonymous user on X replied with a post calling Mundon King the N-word. 

Virginia leaders around the state rushed to condemn the post, including Youngkin and Earle-Sears. But unlike many other messages of support, Youngkin and Earle-Sears did not mention Mundon King by name. 

As a Black woman who has stood up to the KKK, I know exactly what it means to face hate head-on. The racial slur used against a member of our General Assembly is vile and beneath the dignity of our Commonwealth. Hiding behind anonymity does not make hate speech any less… https://t.co/R4YTVEUQb9

— Winsome Earle-Sears (@winwithwinsome) May 19, 2025

“I think it was completely dismissive,” Mundon King said of Earle-Sears’ response. “I think it was to protect herself and her followers who use this type of racist, abusive language.”

‘Here I am’

For years, Earle-Sears has made the case that racial justice policies backed by Democrats are unnecessary and that anyone who works hard can be successful, regardless of systemic barriers.   

In 2023, she said in a radio interview that equity — which the Harvard Business School defines as “equal access to opportunities and fair, just, and impartial treatment” — was “reverse racism.” 

In 2022, Earle-Sears signed onto an anti-affirmative action court filing asking the US Supreme Court to restrict the use of racial preferences in college admissions. The filing, an amicus brief, argued in support of “race neutral” ways of improving education opportunities. 

“Such a course would not only improve education, but also remove the judicial reinforcement for a toxic ideology that is increasingly dividing American society based on race,” the filing said.

The US Supreme Court ultimately agreed in 2023 with a ruling that effectively ended race-conscious admission programs in higher education. 

She’s also pushed back on criticisms of Republican policies that ignore structural racism.

“They say Republicans are racist,” Earle-Sears said in a 2021 speech. “Here I am. It’s ridiculous.”

In an ad posted to social media in May, Earle-Sears explains how George H.W. Bush converted her from being a Democrat to a Republican. 

“He said something that blew my mind,” Earle-Sears says in the ad. “It was, ‘If all you ever have is welfare, you will never have anything to pass onto your children.’ And right then, I said to myself, ‘Oh my God, I am a Republican.” 

My husband is black. My children & grandchildren are black. I am black. Yet, when I support conservative policies, my motives are questioned. Liberals struggle to understand that my skin color does not dictate my politics.

I am Winsome Earle-Sears. Will you listen to my story?

— Winsome Earle-Sears (@winwithwinsome) May 16, 2025

But her conversion to conservatism did not stop Earle-Sears from pointing out that her now-closed “female-, veteran-, and minority-owned” appliance and electric business could help federal contractors meet their diversity requirements. And she has not shied away from highlighting her status as Virginia’s first female and Black Republican nominee for governor. 

Nevertheless, Earle-Sears is campaigning in the shadow of the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity efforts in higher education and Youngkin’s crusade against DEI and teachings about structural racism in schools. For Earle-Sears, when Democrats talk about race, it’s a cynical ploy to win over minority voters. 

“What they do – the other side – is they use the historical problems that we have faced for their nefarious purposes,” Earle-Sears said in a speech in Chicago in 2021. “They have an agenda.”

‘Too painful to address’

Earle-Sears and the MAGA movement’s push to roll back racial justice efforts are at odds with research showing that even as many Black Americans have triumphed over historic barriers, racial disparities persist. Black people in the US are still significantly less wealthy than white people and, according to a 2024 study by Duke University, the racial wealth gap is growing largely due to the impact of America’s racial history. 

Black people in Virginia are also more likely to die as a result of pregnancy, with doctors often ignoring their concerns.

Mundon King points to the disproportionate impact of drug overdoses on the Black community as an area that needs closer examination. Overdose deaths among Black men and women have risen sharply compared to White people, according to a 2025 study out of Columbia University. Identifying such disparities is the only way society can address them, but instead, conservatives have twisted such conversations into somehow being harmful, Mundon King said.

“We need to help Black youth who are facing access to drugs, and we can’t do that without identifying diverse groups,” Mundon King said. “That’s not some gotcha moment. It’s not some negative thing.”

According to Michael Blakey, a National Endowment for the Humanities Professor of Anthropology, Africana Studies, and American Studies at the College of William and Mary, there is a long history of Black conservatives who help give cover to White politicians making policies that either ignore or exacerbate America’s racial inequities. 

“Earle-Sears, as is often the opportunity of Black conservatives, gives them cover from the accusation of racism,” Blakey told Dogwood in an email statement. “The data show (that) hard work with lower rewards is exactly how structural racism works in America.” 

Whether it’s DEI or affirmative action, conservatives like Earle-Sears, Youngkin, President Donald Trump, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have a history of twisting the meanings of words used for progressive social policies, Blakey said.

“They are using the term ‘DEI’ as a dog whistle for ‘undeserving people’ because their white voting block want us to believe we live in a meritocracy so they can justify keeping what they have taken by slavery, Jim Crow, and continued exclusion of others from the resources they want for themselves,” Blakey told Dogwood. 

The attacks on DEI and affirmative action are particularly frustrating for supporters of racial justice because, as Blakey and Shawn Utsey of Virginia Commonwealth University argue, they don’t actually address the root causes of racial inequalities. 

“It’s window dressing,” Utsey, who chairs VCU’s Department of African American Studies, told Dogwood. “There’s a surface attempt to address a deep-seated problem that we’re not ready to deal with that’s too painful to address, but we can do things like DEI and pretend to address the issue by offering these symbolic gestures of change.”

Hard work

Part of Earle-Sears’ pitch to voters is that her father came to the US from Jamaica with virtually nothing, worked hard, and made something of himself — a blueprint she says she also followed.

Her message to voters worried about addressing the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow is that they should try to do something similar. 

“If you can’t make it in America, you can’t make it anywhere,” Earle-Sears said in 2024. 

As for how she might help Virginians “make it” if she were elected governor, Earle-Sears has been more vague. 

In a 2023 radio interview, Earle-Sears said her goal was “to make sure everybody has equal opportunity.” In her campaign, she’s broadly pitched herself as a pro-business Republican who believes lower taxes lead to greater prosperity. 

But as of June 12, the issues section of her campaign website did not have specific plans around creating greater opportunities in Virginia. Her website includes two mentions about opportunities: one about preserving equal opportunities for female athletes and another about how anti-union laws help promote more job opportunities. 

A lack of vision about her plans and how she’d govern left Wilder feeling nonplussed after a recent meeting with Earle-Sears. Wilder said a wealthy donor arranged for the two to meet within the last month or so. 

“I left there feeling the same way I did when I got there,” Wilder said. 

Other Virginians also aren’t sold on Earle-Sears’ vision for Virginia – or lack thereof.

Katina Moss, a Richmond health care advocate, said she’s seen people posting online that they are excited to be able to vote for a Black woman for governor. But Moss, who is Black, said Earle-Sears does not offer the kind of leadership she supports and that’s why she is backing the Democratic nominee for governor Abigail Spanberger.

“If it’s a Black woman who votes against the interest of Black women, then we need another opportunity,” Moss said. “We need to go with someone else who is more aligned with not only the interest of Black women but of our community in general.”

Earle-Sears’ campaign did not respond to repeated requests for comment.