"31 People Who Are Changing The South"

By Miss Kubelik

When we cats lived in Manassas, Virginia, it was easy not to think of it as "the South."

Sure, the first big battle of the Civil War was fought there, and the local museum's volunteers were Confederate sympathizers — but all that seemed musty and overwhelmed by the Argentine, Greek and Peruvian restaurants and the many languages we'd hear at the grocery store. Nevertheless, Time magazine still considers Virginia Dixie. We get it. Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy.

But Jefferson Davis wouldn't recognize it today. Not with politicians like Danica Roem working there.

Danica won a seat in the House of Delegates in Virginia's blue wave election of 2017. She beat a hideous religious hypocrite named Bob Marshall, who refused to debate her or even to use female pronouns when he talked about her. Danica chose to ignore the hate and focus on the issues, and voters swept her in 54 to 46 percent. Asked later to comment on Marshall's lack of courtesy during the campaign, she said, "I don't attack my constituents. Bob is my constituent now."

Yes, Danica is a star, but mostly because she works her butt off every day for the people she represents on the issues (like traffic!) they care about. Is she changing the South? Maybe. Our hope is that one day she helps change the whole country. We cats PURR.