Politics & Government

VA Racial Inequity Panel Takes Aim at Enduring Discrimination

Virginia needs major changes to its housing laws and criminal justice system to remedy a history of discrimination, a new report says.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam speaks during a news conference on June 4, 2020, about plans to remove a Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond.
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam speaks during a news conference on June 4, 2020, about plans to remove a Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

VIRGINIA — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam plans to continue addressing the legacy of institutional racism in the state’s laws during his final year in office, the governor said Wednesday. The governor made the pledge upon releasing the second report of the Commission to Examine Racial Inequity in the Law, a panel of legal experts he appointed in 2019.

The new report offers recommendations for reducing the impact of discriminatory laws. Northam said many of the report’s recommendations are reflected in his current legislative agenda, including measures to restore voting rights, invest in education and expand expungements of prior convictions.

“Our Commonwealth remains focused on acknowledging and righting the wrongs of our past,” Northam said Wednesday in a statement. “This latest report makes clear that there is still work to do to shed the ugly remnants of Virginia’s history.”

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In June 2019, Northam signed an executive order establishing the Governor’s Commission to Examine Racial Inequity in Virginia Law. Later that summer, he appointed members to the commission, including lawyers, judges and law professors.

The commission’s new report, titled “Identifying and addressing the vestiges of inequity and inequality in Virginia’s laws,” looks at housing, education, criminal justice, health, environmental justice and agricultural equity.

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As a result of historically racist housing practices such as redlining, major disparities remain in homeownership rates today, according to the report.

While nearly three-quarters of white families in Virginia own their homes, only about half of households of color are homeowners, with Black and Hispanic families being the least likely to own homes, the report said.

The report also addressed disenfranchised Virginians. The state's current constitutional rule leaves the opportunity to vote for disenfranchised residents to the discretion of the governor.

The commission concluded that the current system that allows a governor to decide who gets to vote “is too great a risk to take considering how integral the right to vote is to a well-functioning democracy."

The commission recommended that the governor propose repealing the provision altogether or draft new constitutional language automatically restoring the rights of those who have completed their sentences. The commission also expressed concern about the aftermath of Florida residents approving an amendment in 2018 granting people convicted of a felony the right to vote.

In response to the passage of the amendment, Florida lawmakers passed a law in 2019 requiring the payment of court fines and fees before residents could vote. While a lower court found the law unconstitutional, an appeals court overturned that ruling less than two months before the 2020 presidential election.

The Virginia commission said in its report that it is concerned about "the events with Florida’s Amendment Four, and recommends provisions that prevent the imposition of required payment of fees or other restrictions on re-enfranchisement."

Sean Perryman, former president of the Fairfax NAACP and a candidate for lieutenant governor, told Patch that the Northam administration "has made real strides in the last year or so in terms of racial inequity — doing things like ending the death penalty and making the move toward legalizing cannabis.”

“These are all racial inequity issues that they have begun to address, and I would commend them on that,” he said.

As lieutenant governor, Perryman said a top priority would be one of the issues highlighted in the study: abolishing felony disenfranchisement. The provision needs to be removed from the Virginia Constitution, he said.

The Commission to Examine Racial Inequity in the Law was initially tasked with reviewing the Acts of Assembly, Code of Virginia and administrative regulations to identify racially discriminatory language still on Virginia’s books. The commission’s interim report, published in December 2019, cited nearly 100 instances of overtly discriminatory language.

In response to the report, Northam proposed and secured the unanimous passage of 14 bills that repealed racist language related to education, housing, transportation, health care and voting.

The commission’s work will continue after the 2021 legislative session, when members will focus on laws and regulations that directly contribute to inequity in economic achievement and stability. The commission also will be tasked with engaging with residents to gain a better understanding of the effects of and solutions to centuries of state-sanctioned racial bias and discrimination in the state.


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