Hatred in the House: A Close Look at Delegate Sharon Malcolm
West Virginia Delegate Sharon Lewis Malcolm is in the spotlight this week, and not in a way that does any credit to our state.
As the Charleston Gazette reports before becoming a Delegate Malcolm was fired from the Bureau of Employment programs after the investigation into a racially-motivated suit she brought against her supervisor revealed that she had repeatedly made racist statements at work.
From using the word n—-r on the job to demanding that she be given her black supervisor’s job, office, salary +10%, and that he never be allowed to supervise a white woman again, her behavior appears to have been far beneath the conduct of a public official.
This appears to only be the tip of the iceberg, however. A scan of her publicly available Facebook page (as of Sunday) gives a glimpse into the depth and darkness of her bigotry. UPDATE: Delegate Malcom has apparently deactived the above Facebook page after the publishing of this article.
Content warning for Islamophobia, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Anti-Semitism.
Perhaps the most dominant theme of her public postings is extreme and persistent Islamophobia. Her postings against those of the Muslim faith are frequent, and laced with the sort of xenophobic fear-mongering seen at the Capitol this session which has often led to hate crimes against Muslims in the US. Here are some examples:
Delegate Malcolm’s hatred doesn’t stop there however. Her bigotry toward the LGBTQ+ is also clearly on display, and makes a case for the ease of partnership with Eric Porterfield in an attempt to allow discrimination in this year’s education bill:
Perhaps the most bizarre combination given to us though is of Sharon Malcolm both displaying a Facebook frame decrying anti-Semitism, while also sharing articles labeling Jewish Senator Chuck Schumer as a Nazi. Schumer’s great-grandmother and six other families members were killed by Nazis during the Holocaust.
Currently Sharon Lewis Malcolm serves on the following committees in the House of Delegates: Industry and Labor, Judiciary, Pensions and Retirement, and Senior, Children, and Family Issues.
We live in a chilling moment in history, that a person openly espousing this type of hatred and extremism is a part of our state legislature. The Sharon Lewis Malcolm who posted these terrifying things is the same Sharon Lewis Malcolm who makes laws impacting the Black community, the Muslim community, the LGBTQ+ community, the Jewish community, and all of us.
We have to ask if this is who we are? Does Sharon Lewis Malcolm truly represent us? The answer is NO, and it has to come with action to enforce it.
If we don’t stand against this kind of thinking and bigotry, it will devour us all.