RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR.: Immigrants make America better, and that includes politics

Introducing Winsome Sears, the latest in a long series of America’s immigrant success stories.

The 57-year-old Republican is Virginia’s incoming lieutenant governor. A Black Republican who won’t bend the knee to white liberals, she’s an immigrant who found her way from Kingston, Jamaica, to the United States — and into the Marine Corps before entering politics.

Sears is also red-hot fire. Where others see obstacles in a country whose institutions are plagued by systemic racism, she sees opportunities. Even though she seems fully aware that this country was built for the convenience of white men, she eschews victimhood.

Now as she prepares to ascend to the second-highest office in Old Dominion, Sears has a loud and clear message for fellow Americans. “What I want to say to Black people, to Asian people … Latinos, whatever, don’t allow political parties to divide us,” she told host Sean Hannity during a recent appearance on his Fox News show.

Sears understands the ugly side of politics, and she’s not afraid to pull back the curtain. “Don’t allow political parties to use grievances … to force you to look at them as the savior so that they can swoop in and think they’re saving you when all they’re doing is pitting one race against the other,” she said.

That’s not all the political parties are doing when they offer themselves up as saviors — Republicans for white males who feel picked on and marginalized and Democrats for women and people of color who feel, well, picked on and marginalized.

The real endgame is about keeping control. When we look to the political parties to save us, we diminish our power and grow theirs.

The problem is especially serious for African Americans. Black voters are shortchanged by Democrats on everything from K-12 education to economic development to racial justice. Democrats let mostly white teachers unions set the school agenda, underinvest in inner city neighborhoods and didn’t show up for the debate on critical race theory in the Virginia governor’s race.

Yet too many of them feel wedded to a party that takes their support for granted. And on the rare occasions that some flirt with voting for a Republican, they get hit with a guilt trip and accusations of selling out.

It’s a story Sears knows all too well.

“When you look at a birth certificate for a Black child, does it say, ‘You must vote Democrat every time all the time, otherwise you’re not Black’? And for the white child, does it say: ‘You can vote anyway you want, any choice you want, always and forever’? I mean, who made up those rules for us?” she told Hannity.

Exactly. I’ve been asking the same thing for three decades — especially with regard to Latinos, who are now America’s largest minority.

Sears doesn’t seem to be out to convert anyone to the GOP. She just wants the party to be seen by more people as a viable option.

That’s a good thing. If African American voters were more in play, maybe Democrats would try harder and do something to actually earn the support of Black voters, rather than simply waiting around to inherit it — because Republicans are perceived to be such an unacceptable alternative.

“What I want for us, as Black people, is just leave us alone,” she told Hannity. “If you want to vote Democrat, do so. You want to vote Libertarian, do so. Whatever you want to be, be it. This is America. This is freedom.”

For this Marine, freedom starts with thinking for oneself. She excels at that, and it infuriates her critics on the left. They include African American scholars such as Michael Eric Dyson, who — during an appearance on MSNBC — likened Sears to a ventriloquist’s dummy for white supremacists.

As she ended her segment on Fox News, Sears fired back at her critics.

“Who died and left you in charge of all of us as Black people so that we can be corralled into doing what you want us to do?” she asked. “I thought you said that you were the tolerant folks. If you’re tolerant, that means you allow other ideas to percolate.”

Sears rolls like an immigrant. These folks don’t whine or make excuses. They do the work and get things done.

Before she is even sworn in, Winsome Sears is already one of America’s most consequential elected officials. She is also — to those who cling to the racial status quo — one of the most dangerous.

Ruben Navarrette’s email address is crimscribe@icloud.com. His podcast, “Ruben in the Center,” is available through every podcast app.