How We’re Working to Expand Diversity in the Classroom and in the Courtroom in Virginia
Everyone in our Commonwealth benefits when we are exposed to diversity. When we can learn and grow from the experiences of people who have different racial, economic, religious, and cultural backgrounds, we increase in our capacity to develop compassion, mutual respect, and tolerance. Often times, these are the very values that are missing from our political discourse and without them, we are destined to continue to wade in the murky waters of ignorance and inequality. Over the last two years, it has been a real privilege to lead diversity efforts in Virginia.
Last session, I worked with the Virginia Education Association to pass a landmark piece of legislation, the Diversifying the Teacher Workforce Act, that will make critical changes to the way we recruit teachers in Virginia. The new law, which went into effect a month ago, allows teacher candidates to take an alternative test to get their teacher certification because the current PRAXIS has been proven to have an implicit bias against people of color. We know from study after study, that when children of color learn from instructors that look like them, their educational outcomes are improved. At a time when non-white students make up 49 percent of Virginia’s student population, but our teacher workforce is nearly 80 percent white, it’s time for a change.
Change in the courtroom is just as vital to our progress. When we have a lack of diversity on the judicial bench, we risk perpetuating the worst disparities in our criminal justice system. Virginia’s judicial appointments are woefully lacking in diversity. In Fairfax County, there are three judges of color out of thirty-two. Fairfax County just appointed the first African American judge to a District Court in 29 years. In Prince William County, one of the most diverse counties in the Northern Virginia region with an African American and Hispanic population totaling 43.5% of the entire population, there is only one African American judge out of fifteen judges on the bench. Most glaringly, Loudon County has never had a judge of color serve.
That’s why I launched an initiative last year to diversify the bench by encouraging lawyers of color across the Commonwealth to apply for judgeships. We collaborated with the leadership in Virginia’s minority bar associations in Northern Virginia and Richmond to recruit, train and mentor minority candidates. Due to our effort, there was a racial minority appointed to every open judgeship in Northern Virginia except for one.
We must do better. We must continue to chip away at institutionalized and systemic racism. This is especially important in Virginia, the former capitol of the Confederacy. We must be bold if we wish to move Virginia into a new era of acceptance, diversity, and inclusion.
