My Sit-Down with Rep. Virginia Foxx
I’ve seen so much conversation about her recently and I feel it’s time to share a story I haven’t told in nine years.
In college at Appalachian I was lucky enough to be one of Foxx’ constituents. I had an assignment to arrange a meeting with an elected official and discuss some matter of importance with them. After a little hassle, she agreed to meet with me.
I walk in amicably and genuinely excited to speak with her…I listened to Train’s Meet Virginia on the drive over. I couldn’t wait to discuss stats regarding the impoverished and neglected populations of WNC (look them up, it’s rather dismal, particularly for families with children).
She reminded me that in her day she had grown up poor, without electricity or running water, and that she was fine.
I reminded her that same reality for a child in 2017 is a much greater disparity to modern living than in her day.
In that moment I saw a “switch” and it was evident this had become a debate which I was not prepared for…
She dismissed all my cited research as false without reviewing it, and then began grilling me on exactly how I could fix all of WNCs problems. How would I in my early 20s run the federal government?
I reminded her that’s what she was elected to do, but I was only there to discuss her thoughts on progress. She and her three aides then tore me apart for 15 minutes straight, I couldn’t get a word in.
Let me tell you, my life had not been easy up until that point. I’d been through some stuff that had made me pretty strong, but something about my sit down with Virginia Foxx shook me. To look such callousness and hatred straight in the eye as she hissed at me left me with a feeling that I can still feel in the pit of my stomach today. I genuinely believe she feels that people in NC who are struggling are doing so because they either 1) want to be or 2) deserve to be. I couldn’t fathom the abysmal attitude and disdain she held for the people who voted for her. It was despicable (and I refuse to use that word because I think it’s wildly dramatic).
After this wretched meeting, I began to get up, she grabbed my arm and SHE ASKED ME for a picture. I reluctantly obliged, bringing it back to my class as proof.
Here I am pictured with Virginia Foxx in 2017. She was roughly late 90s/early 100s then.