Jones hits Herring over 'no empathy' blackface admission in first Democratic AG debate

As he tries to become Virginia’s first Black attorney general, Del. Jay Jones made clear on the debate stage Wednesday night that he wasn’t going to tiptoe around the topic of race.

Facing off against incumbent Attorney General Mark Herring in the first televised debate of the Democratic primary, Jones introduced himself as the descendant of slaves and the grandson of civil rights activists, going on to make several references to the perspective gained from his “lived experience as a Black man.”

Perhaps the most remarkable experience Jones recounted on the debate stage was being in the room in early 2019 when Herring met with the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus to deliver a pre-emptive apology for wearing blackface while in college at the University of Virginia.

“I was there when you took that paper out of your jacket, smoothed it out on the table and read us a statement with no empathy, no compassion, no feeling for how we felt as Black legislators, as Black people,” Jones said. “And frankly, that still pains me to this day.”

Read more: https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/05/06/jones-hits-herring-hard-over-no-empathy-blackface-admission-in-first-democratic-ag-debate/