- Vice
Presidential Speculation « Op-Ed on Gretchen
Whitmer
from
Rachel Noerdlinger
Mercury LLC
August 9, 2020
Good morning. Pamela Pugh is part of a group of
Black women that have been championing a Black
Vice Presidential nominee and she has written a
public op-ed denouncing the consideration of
Governor Gretchen Whitmer as a potential
nominee. Please find her piece below and the
letter attached that was signed by almost 700
national Black women leaders in response to the
narrative surrounding Black women nominees for
Vice President
Governor Gretchen Whitmer is Not Qualified to be Vice President
The Time is Now for a Black Woman Vice President
by Pamela L. Pugh
As a Michigan
statewide elected official, I stand united with
Black women and others from across this country
who demand presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe
Biden, select a Black woman as his running mate.
The Black women who have been named as
possible picks have invaluable lived experiences
in addition to impeccable
careers. This country deserves a Vice
President who is ready, on day one, to stand up
for all people and help to move America out
of this place of health, economic, and racial
crisis—Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has
not been vetted in the way others considered for
the position have nor does she compare in
qualifications.
Governor
Whitmer has often reneged on campaign promises.
Here in Michigan, our communities have had
to exhaust great energy and resources to
convince her to do what’s just and right even
though Black voters decisively carried over the
finish line to get her elected.
While the country has come to know Whitmer
for her response to the coronavirus pandemic,
many of us here have witnessed her as
governor who has often chosen political
expediency over the campaign promises she made
as a candidate. Now, is not the time
for unvetted and unready vice-presidential
potentials.
Benton Harbor, Michigan residents, living in one of our countries most economically segregated communities, had to fight against her shuttering its mostly black school district’s only high school and attempt to bus the children to neighboring White schools. It was only after the office of Democratic Attorney General, Dana Nessel, issued an opinion that she did not have authority to close Benton Harbor’s only high schools that she halted the closure and began working with the district. In Detroit, MI, Governor Whitmer, shockingly, sidestepped statements she made as a candidate in support of equitable education and petitioned to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed by seven Detroit student plaintiffs seeking a basic right to literacy, classrooms with books and teachers and school buildings with no heat in winter or air conditioning in summer. In April, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a landmark decision ruling in favor of the student plaintiffs that “an education that at least guarantees a basic right to literacy is a fundamental right”. Governor Whitmer did not agree to settle the case until after great pressure from Black leaders and education activists was applied.
Governor
Whitmer has not fulfilled promises
made to the residents of Flint, MI, a community
that had their water poisoned and water
infrastructure destroyed by its government. As a
candidate, she announced that she and the
state would restore bottled water that former
Governor Snyder had cut off towards the end of
his term until the water pipes were
replaced. She vowed to reinstate a board
that was intended to bring about transparency as
decisions were made related to Flint’s
recovery. However, Flint residents,
over a year later, are yet awaiting the urgency
and fulfillment of the promises she made as a
candidate to fight for them to have clean and
affordable water, access to alternate water
until the pipes are replaced, and to hold
accountable those responsible for the poisoning
and death of residents.
During this
pivotal and historic time in which we find
ourselves, I am reminded of our Black sisters,
those Black woman suffragists who fought for the
voting rights of others while yet being
sidelined by the movement itself and long
excluded from its benefits. I am reminded
of the countless African American women who for
over 400 years have been the frontline workers,
or caregivers for frontline workers, building
this country. I am reminded of strong and
wise Black women, like my mother and her
grandmother, who served with great dignity and
pride as the help for White women, helping them
raise their children and keep their households
in order. I am hopeful that the Democratic party
is reminded of our sisters who have long served
as advisors, speechwriters, interpreters --
still the cleanup, or the help, for so many
great men and women who have led and currently
lead this nation.
We should all
be reminded that in 2016, with 94 percent of
Black women voting for Hillary Clinton and 53
percent of White women voting for Donald Trump,
we were the Democrats strongest voting bloc.
While a seat on the Supreme Court and the
Attorney General’s office sounds appeasing, it
is hard to imagine how a Biden ticket without a
Black woman on the ticket as Vice President will
get over the finish line to have the opportunity
to appoint a Supreme Court Justice or Attorney
General. Know that the world, younger
generations, and women in general are watching
to see if Joe Biden and the Democratic
Party are ready to move Black women from “the
help” to second in command of this great
nation. A Biden ticket must be inclusive
of a Black woman Vice Presidential running mate.
Pamela Pugh, DrPH, M.S., B.S. is vice president of the Michigan State Board of Education and former Chief Public Health Advisor for the City of Flint., She is a delegate for the upcoming Democratic National Convention. Dr. Pugh has over 23 years of experience in the field of public health. She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from Florida A&M University and both a Master of Science and Doctor of Public Health degree in Environmental Health Sciences from University of Michigan School of Public Health
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