Democratic Party Candidate for Governor Andru Volinsky on the Black Lives Matter Marches in Concord and Manchester: “I Attended Both Rallies… Sometimes Leadership Is a Matter of Showing Up and Quite Frankly I Am Disappointed That Senator Feltes Did Not Attend Any Rally.”
In an interview with WKXL’s Chris Ryan, Andru Volinsky, who is a member of the New Hampshire Executive Council and a Democratic Party candidate for governor, discusses the following topics: Is there systematic racism in America; How can we achieve a just society; how will the presidential race affect the New Hampshire gubernatorial contest; and how will his Democratic Party Primary race for governor be determined.
Andru Volinsky has served on Executive Council since 2017. He represents the Second District of this five-person body which advises and provides a check on the governor’s powers.
Andru Volinsky attended the recent Black Lives Matter rallies in Concord and Manchester. He is disappointed that his Democratic opponent for governor, Senator Dan Feltes attended neither demonstration during this critical period. Mr. Volinsky questions the Senator’s leadership because he failed to show solidarity with the movement.
Candidate Volinsky has offered some concrete steps for moving toward better race relations: 1) Changing police training to include implicit bias training and conflict de-escalation and mediation skills; 2) Paying attention to the disparity in health outcomes in African American and Latino communities; 3) Improving school quality across the state through fairer funding; 4) Instituting a minimum wage of $15 per hour in New Hampshire.
A significant portion of the interview was a discussion of implicit bias, which are practices and attitudes which people develop about other groups as part of their life experiences. These feelings or biases are beneath the surface, but these attitudes affect how we think about people. Individuals who don’t have much exposure to persons from diverse populations can develop stereotypes and have implicit biases towards persons from different races, and ethnic or religious groups. Because implicit racism is not something that is part of a person’s consciousness, it requires focus and attention in order to develop awareness. Andru Volinsky believes that when Governor Sununu recently said that there are only elements of systemic racism, he is ignoring the aspects of implicit bias which may exist beneath the surface.
Andru Volinsky believes that whoever wins the race for Governor of New Hampshire will be the candidate who works hard enough to stay apart from the presidential race. He acknowledges that campaigning within the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic will be difficult. Candidate Volinsky also discusses the differences between himself and Senator Dan Feltes in attitude and on issues, like the broad-based tax and the Granite Bridge Pipeline Project.
