In January 2024, Virginia delegate Don L. Scott will officially make history as the first-ever African American Speaker of the House in the state legislature’s over 400-year existence.
His election comes on the heels of Democrats regaining their majority in November 2022.
Carrying The Torch Of Progress
Scott feels the poignancy of his new role deeply given his ancestral ties to Black Americans who literally built Virginia’s state Capitol building yet remained oppressed for centuries.
Now, he will help lead within its halls, hoping to advance political reforms addressing injustice.
No Stranger To Overcoming Adversity
Scott’s professional journey holds parallels to the societal challenges he aims to help alleviate.
After serving prison time on a past drug conviction, he tirelessly rehabilitated his career to eventually became a successful lawyer and politician driven by a sense of purpose.
Leaning On Lived Experience To Lead Change
The former inmate now rectifying rights restrictions feels firsthand the impact of voter disenfranchisement post-incarceration.
As Speaker, Scott plans to pursue constitutional changes automatically restoring voting rights after sentence completion to mitigate the governor’s authority over determining who can vote again.
Carrying The Mantle With Competence And Compassion
While recognizing the resonance of his historically significant speakership, Scott also understands marginalized groups desire leaders who deliver tangible results improving daily life. He believes his difficult path forged competence and compassion that community members expect given his representative role.
The ancestry entwined within Don L. Scott Jr. predestined his epoch-making ascension. Soon, Scott will swear upon Old Dominion ancestors, pledging to, at last, transfigure the government’s granite and limestone into an accessible shelter for its vulnerable people too long unsheltered.
Where slaveholding forefathers etched hypocrisy into towering walls, their children’s child now chisels equity into potentially hallowed halls instead.
