Va. governor’s med school yearbook shows men in blackface, KKK robe
RICHMOND, Va. — A photograph on Gov. Ralph Northam’s medical school yearbook page shows a man wearing blackface next to another person in Ku Klux Klan robe.
The image is in a 1984 yearbook from Eastern Virginia Medical School on a page with other photos of Northam and personal information about the future governor.
The governor, a Democrat, confirmed in a statement on Friday evening that he was in the photo wearing a costume “that is clearly racist and offensive.” Northam did not say which costume he was wearing.
“This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment,” he said.
Republican state Sen. Bryce Reeves said in a statement that Northam should resign if the reports of the photos are accurate.
“I hope that this picture is inaccurate and that the Governor brings clarity to this issue. This has no place in Virginia,” Reeves said.
If Northam, 59, were to resign, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who is African-American, would assume the governor’s office.
Northam, a pediatric neurologist, graduated from the Norfolk medical school in 1984 after earlier graduating from Virginia Military Institute.
The page is labeled Ralph Shearer Northam, along with pictures of him in a jacket and tie, casual clothes and alongside his restored Corvette.
It shows two people, one in plaid pants, bow tie and black faced, and the other in full Klan robes. Both men appear to be holding beer cans.
The website Big League Politics first posted the picture Friday afternoon. Big League Politics is a conservative website founded by Patrick Howley, a former writer for the Daily Caller and Breitbart.
It’s owned by Mustard Seed Media, an outfit headed by Reilly O’Neal, a political operative whose clients included former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.
Northam has built his 12-year political career on a clean-cut image as a softspoken doctor and Army veteran who headed Honor Council at VMI, a demanding job that required him to pass judgment on students who lied or violated the school’s honor code.