A firebrand Republican candidate has delivered a crude critique of slavery reparations in her campaign to become Missouri‘s secretary of state.
Valentina Gomez, a 25-year-old property investor, in a video tweet slammed Juneteenth, Black Lives Matter (BLM), and plans to compensate the descendants of victims of slavery.
The gun-toting MAGA candidate, who in a stunt last month told voters to not be ‘weak and gay,’ is on the ballot in the August 6 GOP primary to choose the candidate for secretary of state.
Her comments come in a divisive election season, in which politics around race, gender and sexual identities have become front-burner issues — and for some candidates, a vote-winner.
‘Reparations from slavery and black victimization is about to be shoved down our throats for the most wretched holiday in America,’ Gomez said in this week’s viral X video.
‘BLM raised millions. And what did they do for black lives?’
Gomez, a native of Colombia who vocally supports former president Donald Trump, slammed those seeking payouts for the historic sins of slavery, segregation, and Jim Crow.
‘It is outrageous to see people asking for reparations, even though they never went through slavery,’ she said.
‘These ungrateful people should be celebrating because they were born in the greatest nation to ever exist.’
She concluded with a foul-mouthed ‘tip’ for those pushing the racial justice agenda.
‘If you don’t like America, kindly, get the f**k out.’
The clip then cuts to a photo of Gomez holding a rifle — a common sight on her social media feeds.
Gomez is running for Missouri secretary of state as a Republican. As the state is heavily red, it’s likely that the winner of the Republican primary will prevail in the general election
The incumbent, Republican Jay Ashcroft, is running for Missouri governor, leaving the seat open.
Gomez has attracted far more attention than her competitors simply for her controversial stances and provocative videos.
One showed her jogging through the mostly LGBTQ neighborhood of Soulard in St. Louis in May, wearing a bulletproof vest and telling voters to not be ‘weak and gay.’
In February she shared footage of herself setting two LGBTQ-themed books on fire, characterizing the texts as ‘grooming, indoctrinating and sexualizing’.
‘When I’m Secretary of State, I will BURN all books that are grooming, indoctrinating, and sexualizing our children. MAGA. America First,’ she wrote on X .
After Instagram removed the video, Gomez told HuffPost she was: ‘Just like President Trump,’ adding: ‘I am one of the most suppressed voices on Instagram.’
Gomez has previously said ‘don’t be gay,’ when referencing ‘countries that ban rifles, guns or even flamethrowers,’ as reported by radio station WCPT.
Her social media bio reads: ‘Jesus is King. MAGA. America First.’
She opposes vaccine mandates and the ‘transgender agenda.’
Gomez has also expressed admiration for Andrew Tate, who is accused of human trafficking in Romania.
According to her LinkedIn, she has worked at Nestle Purina since October 2021.
Viewers quickly went to work responding to her latest campaign video, posted June 18, with many calling her ‘fraudulent’ and ‘cosplaying a military veteran.’
Others noted her strong Colombian accent and questioned her immigration status.
There were also many replies supporting her for being ‘awesome’ and a ‘patriot.’
Gomez has garnered a reputation for wading into conservative culture war issues
She recently attacked Dylan Mulvaney, who spoke at a Missouri Jesuit college. She called Mulvaney ‘a dude’ with ‘a penis.’
Since the secretary of state serves as the chief elections official in Missouri, Gomez has floated plans to revamp the voting system.
She says the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, which may inform her plan to ‘remove electronic voting machines to successfully transition towards universal paper ballot hand counting,’ per her campaign website.
She also supports deploying the National Guard to monitor polling places in Missouri.
The reparations movement she bashes gathered momentum across the US amid the race protests over the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, but progress has stalled more recently.
Advocates say it’s time for America to repay its black residents for the injustices of the historic Transatlantic slave trade, Jim Crow segregation and inequalities that persist to this day.
Critics say payouts to selected black people will inevitably stoke divisions between winners and losers, and raise questions about why American Indians and others don’t get their own handouts.
They’re popular among the black people who stand to benefit from them, but unpopular among the whites, Asians, and others who would foot the tax bill without themselves benefiting.