South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Va. governor vows not to step down
Virginia governor insists he is not in racist photograph
Northam insists he is not in the racist photograph that appeared under his name in a school yearbook.
RICHMOND, Va. — Resisting widespread calls for his resignation, Virginia’s embattled governor on Saturday vowed 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 posted a video Friday on Twitter apologizing for the photograph that featured a man in blackface and a second person in a Klu Klux Klan outfit. He said that he could not “undo the harm my behavior caused then and today.”
But by Saturday, he said he was not in the photo and had apologized a day earlier for “content” that was on his profile page in the yearbook. 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.
“I am not in that photograph,” he told reporters gathered at the Executive Mansion in Richmond, calling the photo offensive and horrific.
While talking with reporters, Northam disclosed that 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 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.
Shortly after he spoke, Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez issued a statement calling on the governor to step aside.
Since Friday, groups calling for his resignation included the Virginia Democratic Party and the state House Democratic Caucus. Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring and top Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly also urged him to resign, as have many declared and potential Democratic presidential candidates.
“His past and recent actions have led to pain and a loss of trust with Virginians. He is no longer the best person to lead our state,” the Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus said in a statement.
If Northam does resign,
Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax would become the second African-American governor in Virginia’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, 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.
Northam 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 photo and consulting with classmates, “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 that he also didn’t buy the class’s 1984 yearbook or see it until decades after it was published.
Broadnax defended Northam and said he’s not a racist, adding that the school would not have tolerated someone going to a party in blackface.
It remained unclear whether Northam’s remarks would calm the torrent of criticism that threatens to undermine his administration.
The yearbook images were first published Friday by the conservative news outlet Big League Politics.
The scars from centuries of racial oppression are still raw in a state once home to the capital of the Confederacy.
Virginians struggle with the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and Massive Resistance, the anti-school segregation push in the 1950s. Debates about Confederate statues are ongoing after a deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville.
Northam, a folksy pediatric neurologist who is friends with many GOP lawmakers, 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.
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.