RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Virginia NAACP has filed a lawsuit against Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) for allegedly failing to produce records in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in 2023.
According to a press release from the organization, the lawsuit alleges that Youngkin’s administration did not provide records the Virginia NAACP requested regarding its Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).
The records sought reportedly relate to the administration’s “active subversion” of its responsibilities under the 2020 law relating to that office.
“The purpose of today’s action, like all the actions we have taken, is to seek full transparency and to hold the Youngkin administration accountable,” said Reverend Cozy Bailey, Sr., the Virginia NAACP’s president, in the release. “Virginians, especially people of color, deserve to know what this administration is doing in its Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.”
According to the Virginia NAACP, the DEI director’s duties include promoting inclusive practices and addressing systemic inequities in state government, as well as facilitating equity policy. This position is currently held by Martin Brown.
Bailey claimed that it is possible Youngkin is “copying” efforts in other states to “limit or outright eliminate DEI practices.”
“If this is the direction he is going in, the Virginia NAACP will not stand by and allow this to happen,” Bailey said. “We look forward to our day in court.”
In addition, the FOIA request also asked about Youngkin’s communications with state universities over Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts there, among other related matters.
“The Governor’s decision to brazenly refuse to provide any records whatsoever, nor an adequate explanation as to why the office was withholding information, shows a total disregard for the public’s right to information about its state government,” said Katy Youker of the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the organization representing the Virginia NAACP in this lawsuit, in the release.
Youker said the Virginia NAACP has a right to know about “the ways in which the Governor and DEI Director for the Commonwealth Martin Brown have tried to undermine the Administration’s legal duties to advance DEI.”
In May 2023, Youngkin told reporters he believed DEI had “gone off the rails.” This was in response to Brown reportedly saying, while talking about DEI, that “We’re not going to bring that cow up anymore, it’s dead.”
Youngkin’s Press Secretary, Christian Martinez, provided the following statement to 8News regarding the Virginia NAACP’s allegations:
“The Governor’s Office’s career FOIA Officer previously communicated with the NAACP and will continue reasonable efforts to resolve the areas of disagreement regarding this FOIA request. The Administration believes in government transparency and adheres to all FOIA laws and regularly processes a large number of requests each month. But in this matter, because of the extraordinary numbers of documents sought, a legitimate issue involving the best method for document search and production has arisen. We expect further discussions to occur to seek a resolution per the statute.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Press Secretary, Christian Martinez
