Video: Del. Don Scott Tells Virginia Republicans to stop using “Critical Race Theory” and “Black folks as props in your quest to retain power”

You don’t hear speeches like the following one, by Del. Don Scott (D-Portsmouth) earlier today on the Virginia House of Delegates floor, very often. But clearly a lot of Democrats are really tired of what they’ve seen from Glenn Youngkin his first 10 days or so as governor of Virginia, and from Republicans with regard to use of  “Critical Race Theory” as as “wedge issue.” According to Del. Scott:

• “This thing has gone a little too far. I understand you found a winning issue, ‘Critical Race Theory’, once again using the old ‘Southern Strategy’ to use race as a wedge issue, to use Black bodies as a prop in your campaign…those folks who have pent-up racial issues, this is something they can embrace. I would ask you to be very careful about continuing to use this type of language in an attempt to rally your base.”
• “So far what I’ve seen from [Youngkin’s] Day 1 activities is not someone who is a man of faith, not a Christian, but someone who wants to divide the Commonwealth…I know the truth hurts, I don’t want to make you cry like saying ‘Critical Race Theory’, because I know it hurts your feelings…”
• Youngkin has been very divisive, including encouraging parents to report on a “hot line” to cause “parents to go at parents, teachers to go at teachers.”
• “Day 1 splashes, Day 2/Day 3 incompetence. Dangerously incompetent for political purposes only.”
• “Mr. Speaker, I’m going to implore us to stop using Black people and ‘Critical Race Theory’ as a political tool and start governing. We’re tired of it, it’s getting frustrating, and we’d like to see the body move forward without using Black folks as props in your quest to retain power.”
• “…a few days ago…a colleague from Virginia Beach…was trolling my colleague from Portsmouth, a Senator [Louise Lucas] and was saying that she was incorrect in her interpretation of the legality of the executive order on mask mandates. She’s correct…but I would just advise us to stay focused on our work; the education chair has a lot to do other than trolling the Senator.”

P.S. According to Virginia Scope, Gov. Youngkin apparently went to meet with Del. Scott after the speech, and supposedly “stress[ed] that they can disagree without being disagreeable.”