Black Va. lawmakers, NAACP demand ouster of Youngkin’s diversity chief
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Black lawmakers in Virginia’s General Assembly joined the state’s NAACP Friday in calling for the resignation of Martin D. Brown, the state’s chief diversity officer, after he blasted diversity, equity and inclusion programs in a speech at Virginia Military Institute. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight State Sen. Lamont Bagby (D-Richmond), the chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, described Brown’s rhetoric as “appalling” and said that all 19 members of his group believe that he needs to leave his job at once.
The Virginia NAACP also issued a statement demanding that Brown step down immediately, citing his “erroneous assumptions” and “lack of fitness for the critically important position he occupies.”
Brown, a Black Republican appointed in November by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), told hundreds of VMI faculty and staff that “DEI is dead” during an April 21 mandatory diversity training. Calling diversity the "wrong mission,” Brown argued that the pursuit of equity means “you’re not pursuing merit or excellence or achievement.”
Brown, 60, who makes $160,000 a year, oversees the state’s office of diversity, opportunity, and inclusion.
In interviews, Black lawmakers said Brown’s remarks were especially infuriating because they were made at VMI. The nation’s oldest state-supported military college has been working to be more welcoming to minorities and women in the wake of a state-ordered investigation in 2021 that found a “racist and sexist culture” on its Lexington campus. The 183-year-old school, whose cadets fought and died for the Confederacy, hired its first Black superintendent, retired Army Maj. General Cedric T. Wins, and created a diversity, equity and inclusion office, headed by two Black women. But its reforms have faced a backlash among some conservative White alumni. VMI recently renamed it the diversity, opportunity and inclusion to reflect the name of Brown’s office.
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“For him to hold that role as a Black man and to continue to collect a six-figure salary in that role and go to VMI and make statements like that, I think that takes disingenuousness to another level,” Bagby said. “We’ve collectively done a lot of work to address some of the racial challenges VMI has been facing, and VMI — under the leadership of its superintendent Cedric Wins — has turned out to be a serious partner in addressing those challenges associated with diversity, equity and inclusion. So, for Brown to go there and say, ‘Oh, stop what you are doing, we’re no longer interested in that work.’ It was appalling. It’s evident that he doesn’t appreciate his role, and it’s time for him to make it official and offer his resignation.”
Robert Barnette Jr., the Virginia NAACP president, said in an interview that Brown essentially talked his way out of the job while he was onstage at VMI before several hundred professors and college staff members.
“If diversity is the wrong mission, isn’t he in the wrong job?” Barnette asked. “Diversity, equity and inclusion has been a staple of corporate organizations for many years, so to say that it’s dead at an institution of higher learning is very troubling and that’s why we called for his resignation. This man is in the wrong job.”
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Asked to comment about the reaction and calls to resign, neither Brown nor a spokesman for the governor returned messages.
Martin D. Brown, the Chief Diversity Officer for Gov. Glenn Youngkin, speaks before VMI faculty and staff at a mandatory annual employee "inclusive excellence." (Video: The Washington Post)
The state’s first diversity, equity and inclusion officer, Janice Underwood, was appointed in September 2019 by Gov. Ralph Northam (D). The next year, the General Assembly codified the position of director of diversity, equity and inclusion — a law that has never been changed, said Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth), the minority leader of the House of Delegates. In March 2021, the General Assembly voted to require state agencies to establish diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plans.
But when Youngkin came to office in 2022, he rooted out the word “equity” from the state’s education system and changed the name of the state’s DEI office to diversity, opportunity, and inclusion, though the General Assembly has not approved the department’s name change.
When Youngkin selected Brown — who’d worked for three prior Republican governors — his most recent jobs were as president of a marketing and public relations firm, and manager of a Chick-fil-A franchise in Richmond, according to his LinkedIn profile.
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In his remarks at VMI, which the college recorded, Brown seemed to take a swipe at Northam and Underwood while praising his boss.
“One of the things that Glenn Youngkin does, he does nothing else, is he runs to the fire,” Brown told the VMI faculty and staff. “And so he, recognizing that there is a fire going on, he wanted to do something about it. There’s this position in his cabinet — office of diversity, opportunity — or it was diversity, equity and inclusion — created by the former administration. It’s in the code … it’s in the law. So, what can we do with this thing? I mean, clearly, we’re not going to stir up more stink. We’re not going to create more division. Let’s use this, let’s redeem this office for good.”
But Cozy Bailey, vice chair of the Virginia African American Advisory Board, said that Brown recently told the board that he’d offer a strategic vision for the state’s diversity office by the end of March. Bailey, who also serves as the president of Prince William County unit of the Virginia NAACP, said that the report has yet to materialize. Bailey said he watched Brown’s VMI speech and does not understand why Brown thinks equity does not mean pursuing merit.
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“Those who oppose equity try to frame it as something that is less than meritorious. But the true concept of equity is, in fact, about the government and other entities providing each individual with what they need in order to be successful,” said Bailey, who also wants Brown to resign.
Scott, the House of Delegates minority leader, accused Youngkin of exploiting Brown as a Black person to promote policies harmful to minorities.
“Brown goes to VMI, where he thinks he has a friendly audience and says these hateful things, and he’s making light of the people who are fighting to make advances on these important issues — and he’s standing on the shoulders of those who have suffered and helped him be even in the position that he’s in,” Scott said. “It appears that the only reason the governor put him in this position is because he’s Black. What makes him qualified to work on the issues around diversity, equity and inclusion? Where are his bona fides? He was working as a manager at a Chick-fil-A right before this.”
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Brown’s opposition to DEI at VMI — which has Army, Naval, and Air Force ROTC programs — also appears to be odds with the Defense Department, which has an diversity, equity and inclusion office. About half of VMI’s graduates each year are commissioned as officers, according to the college’s website.
Asked about the Youngkin administration’s opposition to equity and its impact on the state’s college ROTC programs, a Defense Department spokeswoman released a statement that said: “The Department of Defense recognizes the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion in achieving our mission of defending the nation. To that end, the Department continues to strengthen policies and procedures that promulgate the Diversity and Inclusion and Equal Opportunity missions and we will continue to enhance diversity and ensure equality across our entire workforce.”
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Source: The Washington Post
