Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s celebration of her cabinet’s diversity backfired on social media after users took a closer look at the photo she shared.
On Thursday, Spanberger posted a photo on X showing herself alongside six Black individuals and one White woman, hailing what she described as a historic milestone. “I’m proud to have the most talented, hardest-working cabinet in Virginia’s history,” she wrote. “They are also the most diverse cabinet Virginia has ever seen.” She added that every cabinet secretary was selected because they are “the best of the best” in their fields and bring perspectives from across the Commonwealth.
Critics on X were quick to note that one major group was absent from the photo: White men. They also pointed out that Hispanics and Asians, who make up significant minorities in Virginia, were not represented either, arguing that the cabinet lacks the very diversity the governor was celebrating.
“Diverse just means no white men, right?” one user replied. Another, Jeremy Carl, wrote that he “wasn’t aware that Virginia was 75% black and had zero White men.” A third user argued that the cabinet is 86 percent Black in a state that is only 19 percent Black, and has no White men in a state where White men make up 32 percent of the population, calling it possibly one of the least representative cabinets in Virginia’s modern history.
Others compared the cabinet’s makeup to Harvard’s admissions office, while another user asked how a cabinet without a single Mexican or Asian member could be called diverse.
