Youngkin Names New Chief Diversity Officer, Removes 'Equity' From Title

RICHMOND, VA — Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin named Angela Sailor, an official at The Heritage Foundation, as Virginia’s new director of diversity, equity and inclusion on Wednesday, succeeding Janice Underwood, the first-ever head of the office.

Youngkin also issued an executive order on Wednesday to change the focus of the office to work on economic opportunity, cooperation among different religious groups, promotion of “free speech and civil discourse” at colleges and universities, and ensuring that the state’s history curriculum is “honest” and “objective.”

Within Youngkin’s cabinet, Sailor's title will be "chief diversity, opportunity and inclusion officer," changing the word "equity" that was used in the administration of former Gov. Ralph Northam to "opportunity."

Northam created the state’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2019 in the aftermath of a scandal about a racist photo from his medical school yearbook page that almost led to his resignation as governor.

Sailor works as vice president of The Feulner Institute at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. The Feulner Institute, founded in 2019, was created to “restore confidence in America’s founding values and principles,” according to The Heritage Foundation.

Sailor also worked in the White House Office of Public Liaison under President George W. Bush, after serving as the director of African American Affairs for Bush's presidential campaign. She also worked as national coalitions director, department head and senior adviser at the Republican National Committee.

“Sailor has been on the front lines working for the election of conservative leaders to federal and state offices,” the Youngkin administration said in a news release Wednesday.

In a June 2021 op-ed posted on The Heritage Foundation's website, Sailor wrote that in America’s schools, students are being taught that the nation’s institutions “are rigged to help whites succeed” and that students are “doomed to failure if they’re Black.”

“These are some of the elements of critical race theory (CRT) that have begun to jump from college campuses to our grade schools — and they are the textbook definition of racism,” Sailor wrote.

On Saturday, his first day in office, Youngkin issued an executive order banning the use of critical race theory or related "inherently divisive concepts" in the state's public schools.

A campaign by conservative groups against the teaching of critical race theory began in late 2020 as a backlash against the nationwide protests in response to the killing of George Floyd and a call for racial justice in the nation.

Critical race theory is an academic framework, usually taught in universities, which is based on the idea that racism is embedded in American institutions, creating persistent systemic inequalities for people of color.

In his executive order issued Wednesday, Youngkin said that Sailor, as chief diversity, opportunity and inclusion officer, will be “responsive to the rights of parents in educational and curricular decision making and ensure, in coordination with the Secretary of Education, that the teaching of Virginia's and the United States' history is honest, objective, and complete.”