Embattled Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax Compares Himself to Lynching Victims

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In an unscheduled address to the Virginia state Senate, Fairfax referenced a resolution passed by the legislature’s lower chamber expressing “profound regret” for lynchings that occurred in the state during the Jim Crow era.

“And we talk about hundreds, at least 100 terror lynchings that have happened in the Commonwealth of Virginia under those very same auspices. And yet we stand here in a rush to judgment with nothing but accusations and no facts and we decide that we are willing to do the same thing,” Fairfax said to a Senate chamber that the Associated Press said reacted in “awkward silence.”

{snip} The state House Republican leader called it “the worst, most disgusting type of rhetoric he could have invoked.” Some prominent black lawmakers in Virginia, however, reportedly did not object to Fairfax’s speech.

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