Resisting widespread calls for his resignation, Virginia’s embattled governor on Saturday pledged to remain in office after disavowing a blatantly racist photograph that appeared under his name in his 1984 medical school yearbook.
In a tumultuous 24 hours, Gov. Ralph Northam on Friday apologized for appearing in a photograph that featured what appeared to be a man in blackface and a second person cloaked in Ku Klux Klan garb. In a video posted on Twitter, he said he could not “undo the harm my behavior caused then and today.”
But by Saturday, he reversed course and said the racist photo on his yearbook profile page did not feature him after all. The governor said he had not seen the photo before Friday, since he had not purchased the commemorative book or been involved in its preparation more than three decades ago.
“It has taken time for me to make sure that it’s not me, but I am convinced, I am convinced that I am not in that picture,” he told reporters gathered at the Executive Mansion in Richmond, calling the shot offensive and horrific.
While talking with reporters, Northam admitted that he had previously worn blackface around that time, saying he once had used shoe polish to darken his face as part of a Michael Jackson costume he fashioned for a 1984 dance contest in San Antonio, Texas, when he was in the U.S. Army. Northam said he regrets that he didn’t understand “the harmful legacy of an action like that.”
His refusal to step down could signal a potentially long and bruising fight between Northam and his former supporters, which includes virtually all of the state’s Democratic establishment.
After he spoke, both of Virginia’s U.S. senators said they called Northam to tell him that he must resign. In a joint statement Saturday night, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and the dean of Virginia’s congressional delegation, Rep. Bobby Scott, said the recent events “have inflicted immense pain and irrevocably broken the trust Virginians must have in their leaders.”
Virginia Gov. Northam: "When I was confronted with the images yesterday, I was appalled that they appeared on my page, but I believe, then and now, that I am not either of the people in that photo." pic.twitter.com/KPanPvrI3L
— NBC News (@NBCNews) February 2, 2019
Northam, a folksy pediatric neurologist who is personal friends with many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, has recently come under fire from Republicans who have accused him of backing infanticide after he said he supported a bill loosening restrictions on late-term abortions, and killing a newborn baby.
Since Friday, groups calling for his resignation included the Virginia Democratic Party and the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, a Democrat, and top Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly also urged Northam to resign, as have many declared and potential Democratic presidential candidates.
“He is no longer the best person to lead our state,” the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus said in a statement.
Democrat Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia just stated, “I believe that I am not either of the people in that photo.” This was 24 hours after apologizing for appearing in the picture and after making the most horrible statement on “super” late term abortion. Unforgivable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2019
If Northam does resign, Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax would become the second African-American governor in the state’s history. In a statement, Fairfax said the state needs leaders who can unite people, but he stopped short of calling for Northam’s departure. Referring to Northam, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax said he “cannot condone actions from his past” that at least “suggest a comfort with Virginia’s darker history of white supremacy, racial stereotyping and intimidation.”
Northam conceded Saturday that people might have difficulty believing his shifting statements.
He was pushed repeatedly by reporters to explain why he issued an apology Friday if he wasn’t in the photograph.
“My first intention … was to reach out and apologize,” he said, adding that he recognized that people would be offended by the photo. But after studying the picture and consulting with classmates, Northam said, “I am convinced that is not my picture.”
Walt Broadnax, one of two black students who graduated from Eastern Virginia Medical School with Northam, said by phone Saturday he also didn’t buy the class’s 1984 yearbook or see it until decades after it was published.
Broadnax defended his former classmate and said he’s not a racist, adding that the school would not have tolerated someone going to a party in blackface.
The yearbook images were first published Friday afternoon by the conservative news outlet Big League Politics. An Associated Press reporter later saw the yearbook page and confirmed its authenticity at the medical school.
In an initial apology about the photograph on Friday, Northam had admitted to being in the photograph but did not say which of the two costumes he had worn.
That evening, he issued a video statement saying he was “deeply sorry” but still committed to serving the “remainder of my term.” Northam’s term is set to end in 2022.
Northam claimed today that yesterday he only apologized for the "content" of the photo, and that he believed yesterday he was not in the photo. That completely contradicts his own statement yesterday when he said the photo was "of me." pic.twitter.com/ABhyKbNZsI
— Steve Lookner (@lookner) February 2, 2019
The scars from centuries of racial oppression are still raw in a state that was once home to the capital of the Confederacy.
Virginians continue to struggle with the state’s legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and Massive Resistance, the anti-school segregation push. Heated debates about the Confederate statues are ongoing after a deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville. A state holiday honoring Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson is a perennial source of discontent.
Northam spent years actively courting the black community in the lead-up to his 2017 gubernatorial run, building relationships that helped him win both the primary and the general election. He’s a member of a predominantly black church on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where he grew up.
“It’s a matter of relationships and trust. That’s not something that you build overnight,” Northam told the AP during a 2017 campaign stop while describing his relationship with the black community.
Ed Gillespie, who ran for Governor of the Great State of Virginia against Ralph Northam, must now be thinking Malpractice and Dereliction of Duty with regard to his Opposition Research Staff. If they find that terrible picture before the election, he wins by 20 points!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2019
In a tweet late Saturday, President Donald Trump called Northam’s actions related to the photo and abortion debate “unforgiveable!”
Last week, Florida’s secretary of state resigned after photos from a 2005 Halloween party showed him in blackface while dressed as a Hurricane Katrina victim.
Full statement demanding that Governor Northam resign immediately. pic.twitter.com/XEf0H6HvOf
— Virginia Democrats (@vademocrats) February 2, 2019
And @DemGovs just called on Ralph Northam to resign: pic.twitter.com/xwPoy3MIVh
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) February 2, 2019
The photo is racist and contrary to fundamental American values. I join my colleagues in Virginia calling on Governor Northam to do the right thing so that the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia can heal and move forward.
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) February 2, 2019
JUST IN: Former VP and potential 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden: "There is no place for racism in America. Governor Northam has lost all moral authority and should resign immediately, Justin Fairfax is the leader Virginia needs now."
— NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) February 2, 2019
Sens. Kaine and Warner and Rep. Bobby Scott drop the hammer: “After we watched his press conference today, we called Governor Northam to tell him that we no longer believe he can effectively serve as Governor of Virginia and that he must resign.“
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 2, 2019
DNC Chair Tom Perez: “It's time for Ralph Northam to step aside and let Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax serve Virginians as their next Governor.”
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) February 2, 2019
(AP)
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13 Responses
Totally ridiculous. This is political correctness run amok. He should not be resigning over some stupid picture from 100 years ago.
He should be resigning because he supports murdering a baby. The Democrat party is the party of EVIL. The sitra achar.
The KKK thing I can see. But is it racist to dress like a black person? Would it be anti-Semitic to dress like a chosid?
Rebbe Yid, Yes it IS racist to dress like a black person. There is a lot of history where whites used to make fun of blacks by doing blackface. So yes today’s day and age it is. Purim is around the corner. I would highly not recommend it unless you want to be posted all over the internet and embarrass yourself.
To answer the other question a few years ago some fashion designer dressed like a chossid at some fashion show and got ripped apart for it for being anti-semetic. Not sure if he ever recovered and may have lost his business.
Connect the dots.
This is the same governor who last week publicly sanctioned infanticide.
Now all of a sudden a yearbook entry from how-many-years-ago surfaces and he is subjected to public humiliation.
There are no coincidences.
Why is it a surprise? KKK was started as a par-military wing of Democrat party. The original purpose of Planned Parenthood, which donates 100% exclusively to Democrats , was to get rid of black population in US.
It is all a diversion. Trump is a real racist. just ask some idiots on this forum.
That’s what you get for supporting baby murder!
MSNBC and CNN just reported Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam will announce his run for 2020.
This is so stupid first of all, it was like 100 years ago. Second when I was growing up on Purim kids used to dress up like a black person all the time and no one for a second ever thought it to be intended hateful toward black people. If I dress up like farmer for Purim I hate farmers? If dress up like Superman for Purim I hate Superman? If I dress up like a kohengudol for Purim I hate kohengudols? Name me one more category where dressing up like someone is in indication of prejudice? This is utter stupidity.
The media should go after the editors of the yearbook as well. If according to the left’s political beliefs it is wrong to dress and pose that way, then it’s equally wrong to perpetuate the photos by printing them.
No, reb yid, dressing as a black person is not racist, but a lot of people either are genuinely offended by it, or pretend to be offended. Their offense, even if genuine, doesn’t make it racist. Feelings don’t change facts. There is no moral or legal reason why anyone should change their otherwise innocuous behavior just because someone else doesn’t like it.
But those feelings are themselves a fact, so if your aim is not to offend those sensitive souls, then you should avoid blackface. If you don’t care about them — and there’s no reason why you should — then go ahead.
AP always tells us if someone is a Republican in the two sentences. If you get to the third paragraph, and there is no mention at all, he’s a Democrat.
Fair and Balanced…
ocho sinco, you ask “Name me one more category where dressing up like someone is in indication of prejudice?” how bout dressing as KKK?