Valerie Byrd pursuing a ‘bright future’ for St. Johns County

By Bree Mallory

When Valerie Byrd was asked to have her picture taken for a news profile story, she shook her head.
She was reminded that the story was about her. That it would make more sense if a picture of her came before the article.

She shook her head again.

Rather than a picture only depicting her, Byrd chose to feature a picture including all of the members of the St. Johns Democratic Black Caucus, of which she is president.

“So many people assist in what I do outside of only myself,” said Byrd. “It would feel wrong for the picture to be only of me. I don’t even want my picture on our website!”

And that’s the kind of person that Byrd is. She highly values other people and chooses to put them first in all that she does. As president, she believes that this is the least she can do.

“To be a leader is to be subservient,” said Byrd. “My job is to support all of the members [of the caucus] and the people of this county, so that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Born in Dayton, Ohio, Byrd moved around a lot before finally settling with her family in St. Augustine later in life.

“My husband and I love the water,” she said. “So we thought, ‘What better than a place by the ocean!’”

The number of both African Americans and Democrats in St Johns County are relatively low. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, only around 6% of the people in St. Johns County are black. Similarly, according to Florida’s Division of Elections, only 20% of people who are registered to vote in the county are registered as Democrats. This means that people like the members of the caucus aren’t as represented in this county as some of their White and Republican peers.

However, even though the makeup is small, the fact that it is there at all is what inspires Byrd. “It is easy to be discouraged politically,” said Byrd. “But when you really believe in something, you have to keep going. I always say that you can block me this way, but I’m gonna go another way.”

Byrd joined the St. Johns Democratic Black Caucus shortly after moving to St. Augustine so that she would be involved in the community, unaware that she would later be the caucus’s president. “I didn’t aspire to [the position],” she said. “It just happened. I am very humbled and grateful that [the members of the caucus] voted for me.”

Robin Thomas, executive director of Compassionate St. Augustine, who is not a member of the St. Johns Democratic Black Caucus, but has grown close to Byrd through their shared investment in community activism, thinks that the decision to elect Byrd as president of the caucus was highly justified.

“She’s wonderful [as a leader]!” she said. “She’s very compassionate… she’s just awesome.” As president, Byrd’s day consists mostly of organizing events and networking with people in the community.

“I can actually spend about 10 to 12 hours a day on a laptop,” she said. “That’s a lot of my day.” Byrd chooses to spend her time like this not only out of passion, but because of what she describes as a need.

“The people of this county needed someone to do this work, and I happened to be there to answer the call,” she said.

“So many people are uninformed and inundated with a whole lot of … misinformation,” said Thomas. “The work that Valerie is doing is giving people the information without being inundated with things that are not correct. It’s a … wonderful thing to have someone to be able to explain exactly what is going on with our government.”

Outside of the caucus, Byrd is a very family-oriented person. In fact, much of the work she does with the caucus is influenced by her heritage. She cites some of her biggest inspirations as her great-great-grandmother, who was enslaved, and her parents, who were heavily involved in the civil rights movement in the 60s.

“[I] wouldn’t be sitting here if it weren’t for them.” she said. “I want to be that person for my grandchildren’s generation.”

Byrd plans to stick with the caucus long after her term is over.

“I’m retired, and I’m going to be retired,” she said. “But, I’ll still stay engaged. I don’t know what the next term will hold, but I’ll still be around.”

Byrd thinks that, despite the county’s smaller number of Democrats and African Americans, St. Johns has a “bright future”. Nevertheless, she still believes that there is work that needs to be done in order to ensure that it is bright for everyone in the community. She cites a lack of diverse city commissioners, equal access, affordability and homelessness as a few things that the caucus believes could be better and are making plans to fix within the county.

“There’s always more to do,” she said. “If we don’t do it, who will?”