The scene at James Madison University last weekend was a disgusting reminder that the left’s contempt for anyone who dares to disagree with them now spills out of lecture halls and onto the sidelines. During the JMU vs. Old Dominion game on October 18, a fan seated near Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears yelled “go back to Haiti” and later screamed “traitor” at a proud American who served in the Marine Corps. JMU athletics has since acknowledged the viral video and moved to suspend the fan from future events, a small but necessary step toward accountability.
Winsome Earle-Sears is no fringe figure — she’s a naturalized American born in Jamaica, a Marine veteran, and the Republican nominee for governor of Virginia who has carried herself with dignity in the face of this abuse. She rightly pushed back, reminding the country that America is her home and that attacks like this expose the left’s double standard: they preach inclusion until a Black conservative refuses to toe their line. Her resolve should inspire patriotic Americans everywhere rather than invite contempt from the coastal elites who think they own public discourse.
Reporters and online sleuths have since identified the heckler as a man named Scott Pogorelc, and conservatives are right to demand consequences when partisan venom turns into racialized harassment. Employers and institutions that tolerate this behavior should be held to account, and JMU’s quick action to restrict the individual from games was the bare minimum. The fact that a self-professed liberal would hurl such a crude demand at a fellow American says more about the rot on the left than it does about the target of the abuse.
This incident is not an isolated flare-up of bad manners; it’s part of a larger pattern where the left weaponizes identity to silence dissenting voices, especially conservative Black women who refuse to play their expected role. Campus mobs and media double standards celebrate anyone who shouts down a conservative but rush to excuse or minimize the abuse when the perpetrator shares their politics. Patriots who believe in free speech, personal responsibility, and genuine tolerance should be the ones calling out this hypocrisy loudly and without apology.
With Election Day on November 4 fast approaching, Virginia voters should take note of which side treats politics like a shouting match and which side honors civil debate and the rule of law. This gubernatorial race matters not just for Virginia but as a referendum on whether mainstream America will tolerate the cancel-culture tactics of the radical left. If Democrats think name-calling and mob tactics will stop a veteran and conservative leader from winning, they’re badly mistaken — and Patriots should respond by showing up at the ballot box.
Conservative readers should be outraged, not silent. Stand with Winsome Earle-Sears against the left’s ugly brand of identity politics and demand respect for every American, no matter their party. Call out the institutions that enable this behavior, support leaders who defend free speech and fairness, and remind the nation that decency, service, and patriotism still matter.
