Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears: 'Too many of our political leaders' use race 'to divide us'
Fox News
Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears was sworn in as the first Black woman – and first woman, period – to hold her position, just days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and she urged Americans to have a positive outlook on where the country is in terms of race, instead of focusing on the negative.
"I think I am a visible success story that says to people, ‘You can do it. You will do it. No matter your gender, no matter your color, even no matter where you were born.’ Because here I am, this is not my country, not my culture. I came from Jamaica and here, I have made it," Sears said in an interview with Fox News, noting that she is now the number two official in what was once the capital of the Confederacy.
The Republican contrasted her approach to those of other politicians who emphasize problems when it comes to race in America.
"Are you going to look at the glass as half full or as half empty? Because if it’s half empty that’s a negative view of life," Sears said. "That’s where too many of our political leaders come from and all it does is serve their, I think, nefarious agenda to divide us and to say you’re a victim, you’re always going to be a victim, and the other people are the oppressors and so you need us."