A Republican candidate in the state of Missouri posted a video on her social media pages belittling the holiday of Juneteenth and firing off her criticisms of reparations.
“Reparations from slavery and Black victimization is about to be shoved down our throats for the most [wretched] holiday in America,” Valentina Gomez said in the video while donning a shirt that reads, “Don’t be weak and gay.”
The 25-year-old GOP candidate followed up those tactless, barefaced comments about reparations with what she called a “tip” to Black Americans.
“It is outrageous to see people ask you for reparations, even though they never went through slavery. These ungrateful people should be celebrating because they were born in the greatest nation to ever exist,” Gomez said. “Here’s a tip – If you don’t like America, kindly, get the f*** out.”
The video ends with a picture of Gomez in a tactical vest, holding an assault-style rifle. In the caption, she wrote, “Juneteenth is ratchet,” and nodded to conservative pundit Candace Owens, who has also slammed the holiday as “lame,” “ghetto,” and “made up.”
Juneteenth commemorates the day when the last enslaved African Americans in Confederate states were freed. Union soldiers arrived in the town of Galveston on June 19, 1965, and Union Major-General Gordon Granger proclaimed it Emancipation Day. It was proclaimed a federal holiday in 2021.
However, African-Americans in bondage in other non-Confederate states, such as Kentucky and Delaware, weren’t legally freed until the 13th Amendment took effect on Dec. 6, 1865.
In a comment to Newsweek, Gomez didn’t back down from her remarks.
“Straight White men built the roads we drive on, the buildings where we live, and the ones that fought and declared independence from the tyranny of the British for us to have freedom and the pursuit of happiness,” Gomez told Newsweek. “To anyone that does not like America, GTFO [get the f*** out]. President Trump is the Greatest President of All Time, and I look forward to accepting his endorsement,” Gomez added.
Gomez, a Colombian native whose family migrated to the United States, is currently running for secretary of state in Missouri.
Gomez’s video was reposted on Instagram by Rahiem Shabazz where it garnered over 300 comments. One user wrote, “She literally can barely speak English and is trying to comment on black people lol”. Another added, “How a foreigner from a s hole country with a accent gonna tell the natives to get out…the nerve of this heaux!”
Like many of her unabashed Republican peers, she is a fervent Trump supporter who hasn’t shied away from sharing her far-right views on social media with several posts advocating mass deportations, law enforcement protections, and gun rights. She has also attacked the LGBTQ+ community, Pride Month, and DEI initiatives.
After a Brooklyn federal judge criticized the behavior of several New York City firefighters who heckled the state attorney general, Letitia James, at a promotion ceremony, Gomez said those workers were “being suppressed by a tyrant government.”
