Va. ‘race’ to the bottom

Gov’s ‘healing’ tour

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Saturday he’ll remain in office and launch a racial-reconciliation tour to heal the damage done by a blackface image in his medical-school yearbook.

Its discovery threw his state into disarray, he told The Washington Post in his first interview since the scandal broke.

“It’s been a horrific week for Virginia,” he said. “A lot of individuals across Virginia have been hurt.”

Northam (above, right), a Democrat, maintains he is not in the photo, which shows a person in blackface standing next to someone in KKK robes. He couldn’t say how the image landed on his yearbook page and said he “overreacted” when he initially said he was in it.

“If I had it to do over I would step back and take a deep breath,” he said.

Northam told the newspaper that he has spent the week since the photo emerged reading about race, learning about “white privilege” and speaking with black lawmakers.

He said he wants to use the remainder of his term to even out inequalities between black and white Virginians.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” he said. “There are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area of equity.

“There are ongoing inequities to access to things like education, health care, mortgages, capital, entrepreneurship. And so this has been a real, I think, an awakening for Virginia. It has really raised the level of awareness for racial issues in Virginia. And so we’re ready to learn from our mistakes.”

The governor has been hiding since the image became public, using tunnels to travel between his executive mansion and his office building, according to reports.

He said he’s held conversations with black politicians who explained to him why blackface is offensive.

“The main point that this person told me is that at the end of the day, the white person — just as I was the white person that dressed up as an African-American dancer . . . at the end of the day we can take that makeup off and go back to being white,” he said.

In was not clear whether he was referring to his admission he once wore blackface while dressed as Michael Jackson.

The state has also been rocked by two sex-assault allegations against Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who has denied the claims, and the revelation that Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring wore blackface in 1980.

Northam promised “sensitivity training’’ in government, colleges and even elementary schools.