Blackface photo investigation hits dead end

NORFOLK, Va. — The mystery of whether Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was in the yearbook photo that nearly destroyed his career remains unsolved.

A monthslong investigation ordered up by Eastern Virginia Medical School failed to determine whether Northam is in the picture published in 1984 of a man in blackface next to someone in a Ku Klux Klan hood and robe.

Investigators with a law firm hired by the school said Wednesday that they couldn’t conclusively establish the identities of either person in the 35-year-old photo that was on Northam’s yearbook page alongside pictures of him.

They also said they couldn’t determine how the photo ended up on Northam’s page but found no evidence it was put there by mistake or as a prank.

When the picture came to light in February, the Democrat initially acknowledged he was in it and apologized without saying which costume he was in, then reversed course the next day, saying he was not in the photo. But he acknowledged he once wore blackface decades ago to look like Michael Jackson for a dance contest.

“No individual that we interviewed has told us from personal knowledge that the governor is in the photograph, and no individual with knowledge has come forward to us to report that the governor is in the photograph,” the law firm, McGuireWoods, said.

In a statement Wednesday, Northam, a 59-year-old pediatric neurologist who went into politics late in life, repeated that he is not in the photo and apologized again to the people of Virginia, admitting his handling of the episode “deepened pain and confusion.”

Northam also has been striving to make amends with black leaders, winning their praise with such moves as ending the suspension of driver’s licenses for unpaid fines and ordering a review of how schools teach the nation’s racial history.

Lamont Bagby, chairman of the Virginia Legislature’s black caucus, said the inconclusive report “doesn’t change a thing as it relates to the challenges that we have to do,” adding: “We’ve got 400 years of stuff to clean up.”

Investigators said Northam did not believe he was in the photo when he first saw it but did not want to issue an immediate denial in case someone contradicted him.

“The best we can conclude is that he erred on the side of caution initially and immediately regretted not having denied,” said attorney Richard Cullen, who led the investigation.

GOP House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert panned the investigation, saying the report didn’t prove Northam isn’t in the picture. He also noted that according to the report, the medical school’s leaders knew about the picture before it became public and said nothing.