Virginia GOP candidate for governor: 'I've never seen systemic racism'

During an interview on Tuesday, white Virginia Republican gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase told an interviewer she’s “never seen systemic racism.”

In the interview with the Spirit of VMI, a political action committee formed by alumni and others associated with Virginia Military Institute whose stated mission is “to stop the decay of VMI caused by outside legislative influence,” Chase was asked what she would do as governor in response to allegations of systemic racism and sexism at the school contained in a report ordered by the state and released last month.

“I’ve never seen systemic racism or any of that,” said Chase, who currently serves as a state senator. “I think that’s a created term by the left, who is actually the ones that are being the racists themselves.”

Chase accused Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam of passing a state budget with “government-sponsored racism all through there. … These mandatory quotas, it’s not based on merit, I would totally change that. Scholarships should be based on merit, not the color of your skin, and we will end that practice here in Virginia under a Chase administration.”

“I reject the notion that there is racism. In fact, if anything, I would argue that we have reverse racism that’s going on in America right now. And I know this from what I’ve seen in employment with other — you know, instead of being able to hire the best person for the job, people are being forced to hire someone based on the color of their skin, not their credentials.”

Chase said, “I think we’ve kind of overcorrected as a society and it’s time to treat everybody equally.”

The statement appears to be a reference to the “Enslaved Ancestors College Access Scholarship and Memorial Program” that was recently signed into law by Gov. Northam.

The law requires public universities in the commonwealth to identify enslaved people who worked for the schools and to memorialize them, and to provide a “tangible benefit” in the form of scholarships or economic development to communities with demonstrated historic ties to slavery.

The measure received support from both Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly.

Chase has made incendiary statements about race before.

In June 2020 she complained that efforts to remove statues of Confederate figures and Christopher Columbus were about “destroying white history.”

Chase also described an initiative backed by Northam to remove a statue of the slavery supporter Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from downtown Richmond as an “overt effort here to erase white history.”

In August 2020 Chase attracted national attention when she claimed during a special session of the General Assembly that she was exempt from wearing a mask due to a medical condition, which resulted in her desk being surrounded by a plexiglass shield.

In January, Chase was censured by the Virginia Senate in a bipartisan vote after she made false allegations of vote fraud in the 2020 election and expressed sympathy for the pro-Trump rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

“These were not rioters and looters, these were patriots who love their country and do not want to see our great republic turned into a socialist country,” she said on the Senate floor.

Chase also called on Donald Trump to invoke “martial law” to overturn the results of the presidential election in his favor.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.