Virginia AG admits to wearing blackface
Three Democrats in leadership face crisis
Virginia’s leadership crisis deepened Wednesday as Attorney General Mark Herring admitted that he, too, once wore blackface in the 1980s, and the woman accusing the lieutenant governor of sexual assault released details of her claim.
The revelations came days after Gov. Ralph Northam said he wore blackface in 1984 for a Michael Jackson dance contest. Leaders on both sides of the aisle have called for Northam’s resignation.
Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, in line to succeed Northam, vehemently denied the accusations against him. Herring is next in line after Fairfax. All are Democrats.
Wednesday’s developments accelerated a controversy that has dragged on since the weekend and has put the Virginia leadership under an intense nationwide spotlight.
“In 1980, when I was a 19-year-old undergraduate in college, some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song,” said Herring, who previously said he would run for governor in 2021. “It sounds ridiculous even now writing it. But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes — and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others — we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup.
“This was a one-time occurrence and I accept full responsibility for my conduct.”
Herring, who previously urged Northam to resign, said “honest conversation” would make it clear whether he can continue in his own job.
Herring, 57, said shame from the incident “has haunted me for decades.” But he also lists his efforts to “empower communities of color” by working for equality in the state’s criminal justice and electoral systems and fighting for equal access to health care.
“I will say that from the bottom of my heart, I am deeply, deeply sorry for the pain that I cause with this revelation,” he said.
Northam has said he won’t resign, and on Tuesday he resumed governing, signing a $750 million Amazon incentive package and issuing a statement mourning the death of a state trooper. Northam, 59, has been under siege since Friday, when a racist photo from his medical school yearbook page in 1984 was published by the conservative website Big League Politics. The photo depicted one person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe.
On Friday the governor apologized for being in the photo, but on Saturday he said he was not pictured in the “offensive, racist photo.” Northam admitted to blackening his face with shoe polish for a Michael Jackson costume at a dance contest in the 1980s.
The Democrat has been under heavy pressure from both parties to bow out. State Sen. Richard Stuart, a close friend, said he talked to Northam on Tuesday and believes the governor wants to remain in office and “face this headon.”
Members of both parties have acknowledged that, under state laws, removing Northam could be difficult. Northam has been essentially frozen out by fellow Democrats. He has remained out of the public eye since Saturday’s awkward news conference.
Fairfax, 39, issued a statement Wednesday saying it was important to listen to anyone who comes forward with claims of sexual misconduct or harassment. But he said the accusations against him from 2004, while he was a law student, are false and that the encounter was consensual.
His accuser, Vanessa Tyson, is a political science professor at Scripps College in California. She issued a statement saying she met Fairfax at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. She said they chatted from time to time and at one point Fairfax invited her to go with him to his hotel room to pick up documents.
“What began as consensual kissing quickly turned into sexual assault,” she said in the statement issued by her lawyers.