Last week, people across the political spectrum were stunned when a protester appeared at a campaign event for Virginia Lt. Gov. and Republican gubernatorial candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, brandishing a vile, racist sign. The elderly white liberal woman’s sign read, “Hey Winsome, if trans can’t share your bathroom, then blacks can’t share my water fountain.” LI covered this story here.
Fox News reported earlier in the week that the U.S. Department of Education had “designated five Northern Virginia schools as ‘high-risk’ and placed restrictions on their federal funding.” These schools have recently faced criticism over policies related to transgender students’ access to bathrooms and locker rooms. On Thursday, the Arlington County School Board convened a meeting to address the controversy. Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears spoke at the meeting and later engaged with constituents outside the building, where the incident took place.
Earle-Sears is black; her family immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica in the 1970s.
Later that evening, Earle-Sears’ opponent in the race and former Dem. Rep. Abigail Spanberger’s campaign was asked to comment on the sign. Her team issued a statement that said, “Abigail condemns this repulsive display. It’s racist, abhorrent, and unacceptable.”
Spanberger was later pressed for a direct comment and replied in a Facebook post:
As I said yesterday, the sign displayed in Arlington last night was racist and abhorrent.Many Virginians remember the segregated water fountains (and buses and schools and neighborhoods) of Virginia’s recent history. And no matter the intended purpose or tone and no matter how much one might find someone else’s beliefs objectionable, to threaten a return of Jim Crow and segregation to a Black woman is unacceptable. Full stop.
She would have done herself a big favor had she responded directly the first time, rather than through a subordinate.
The woman carrying the racist sign was ultimately identified by numerous sources as progressive activist Anita Martineau.
According to several sources, she is a campaign volunteer for the Spanberger campaign.
If it can be proven that Martineau has indeed been knocking on doors for the Spanberger campaign, this incident is likely to escalate.
At the moment, the Arlington County Democratic Party is also trying to distance itself from Martineau. The group issued a 4-post statement on X that essentially said they “unequivocally condemn the racist sign” and that “the individual responsible is not affiliated with us.”
But the Arlington GOP begs to differ. They published several photos that show Martineau as “an official Election Greeter on Election Day 2023 – featured in both a Facebook post AND an Instagram reel.”
The Arlington GOP posted a video taken at the Earle-Sears event that shows Steve Baker, the Chairman of the Arlington Democrats, “giving her a heads up that her sign was going viral.”
Is it really possible that, after all the years Martineau has been active in the county’s Democratic Party, she never once revealed this racist side of herself? Or is the party only now scrambling to distance itself from her because she’s caused such a public spectacle?
Did she suddenly become unacceptable, or is it just that they’re feeling the heat?
My guess: it’s the latter.
Democrats have always been the party of racism.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY