Hopes of lifting kids out of poverty

RICHMOND, Va. -- When Winsome Earle-Sears is sworn successful arsenic Virginia's adjacent Lieutenant Governor, she volition beryllium the archetypal woman, and the archetypal pistillate of color, to ever presume the role.

But, she said she does not dwell connected it.

"I didn't tally to beryllium the archetypal anything. I knew that was a possibility, I conscionable wanted to help," Earle-Sears said.

Earle-Sears, who went by Winsome Sears during the contention connected the proposal of advisors, said she is returning to her hyphenated past name, which includes her maiden name, Earle.

"When my begetter came successful 1963, it was 17 days earlier MLK gave his 'I Have a Dream Speech,' truthful helium came astatine the tallness of the Civil Rights movement, helium came with lone a dollar seventy-five," Earle-Sears said.

The Republican said her inheritance arsenic a Jamaican migrant who arrived successful the United States astatine property six, shaped her worldview that with hard enactment and education, a child, adjacent those surviving successful abject poverty, tin go thing they privation to.

"I cognize the struggle, and I privation each children to cognize they tin beryllium here, they tin bash precisely what I person done, determination is thing peculiar to it but enactment successful schoolhouse and study," Earle-Sears said. "Education volition assistance everyone retired of poverty."

We met Earle-Sears astatine Holly Knoll successful Gloucester, which is the status location of Robert Moton, the 2nd main of the Tuskegee Institute successful Alabama.

Moton believed that Black Americans should assistance themselves up done education, which is besides thing Earle-Sears preaches.

In fact, she said that precise contented drove her to leap into the Lieutenant Governor's race.

"I conscionable saw our children floundering and COVID made it worse due to the fact that of each the closings," Earle-Sears said. "You spot what is happening present successful different states, the unions are closing the schools, that's not going to work, it hasn't worked, it didn't work, it's not going to work."

She hopes to bring schoolhouse prime to Virginia, done vouchers that would let parents to prime wherever they privation to nonstop their kids to school, whether that beryllium the section nationalist school, a charter school, oregon a backstage school.

"We request contention successful education, contention lifts each boats, truthful if the nationalist schools aren't going to beryllium open, springiness parents the accidental to choose," Earle-Sears said.

While the CDC recommends cosmopolitan indoor masking of each students ages 2 and older, Earle-Sears worries astir forced masking.

"The children are suffering from what I americium proceeding code pathologists are saying, particularly astatine the younger ages. The children aren't capable to signifier their words, truthful they tin ticker their mouths," Earle-Sears said.

She advises everyone to get the COVID vaccine, but she said cipher should beryllium forced to bash so.

"That's what they bash successful different countries. This is America, we person got to support our liberties, and we've got to recognize erstwhile capable is enough," Earle-Sears said.

Earle-Sears said intelligence wellness attraction for children was an contented that deed adjacent to home.

Her girl and 2 young granddaughters died successful a car clang successful 2012.

"My girl erstwhile she would person her episodes, we wouldn't cognize wherever she was, and determination was 1 clip she was successful jailhouse due to the fact that determination was nary infirmary for her, and this happens each the time," Earle-Sears said. "We person the wealth present that we tin yet enactment you cognize guardant to instrumentality attraction of that."

We proceed to perceive from parents facing childcare challenges owed to staffing problems astatine daycare centers, precocious costs, and constricted spots.

Earle-Sears said she faced that herself arsenic a parent of three, and she said she wants to larn much astir the issue, and she is unfastened to each solutions.