Ralph Northam, Virginia Governor, Admits He Was in Racist Photo

SummerMadness

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Ralph Northam, Virginia Governor, Admits He Was in Racist Photo
Virginia's governor acknowledged on Friday that he was photographed more than 30 years ago in a costume that was "clearly racist and offensive" — admitting that he had dressed either as a member of the Ku Klux Klan or in blackface — but resisted a flood of calls for his resignation from national and state Democrats.

"I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now," Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor, said in a statement on Friday evening.

I'm guessing this story must have some people feeling torn.
 

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We do things to hurt people when we are in our youth. But hopefully we can grow past that behavior as we mature. Life is a learning experience. We see the error of our ways as we, in hind sight, look back and see how hurtful our actions really were. While what he did was wrong, he has acknowledged it and taken responsibility for it. It is like when someone commits a crime in their youth, but youthful transgressions are forgiven later in life. The one thing I do not understand is if he knew that photo was out there, why did he run for public office?
 
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durangodawood

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I can grant that people have moved on from dumb racist gags they did in high school or college. But I'm a white guy, and so broken trust is probably not quite the visceral issue that I'd think it would be for black people, in this case.

So I'm curious to read what his black constituents think.
 
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essentialsaltes

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No excuse for that. If he can usefully work with his legislature, he might be able to limp along through one term, but I think he's done, unless he can deliver an apology and life journey story to beat them all.
 
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Ringo84

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Now he's saying that it "wasn't him" in the photo and he won't resign.

Moron! One of the captions under his name in the yearbook is "C---man" (racial slur). He needs to vacate the office so that Fairfax can take over.
Ringo
 
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SummerMadness

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While it's obvious that this photo release is about the abortion legislation in VA and the group that released the photo doesn't care about racism (in fact, the site that released the photo is happily racist), it is difficult for the governor to continue in the position he is in. Regardless of whether it's him or not (he apologized yesterday, now he says it's not him), it is difficult to be an effective leader now if people don't trust you.

The other issue is simply political, it is harder to discuss the president's racism or Steve King's racism when we know the mantra of many conservatives is to use whataboutism. It just becomes a distraction.

The right thing to do so is to not drag this on and let Fairfax ascend to the governorship. It's unfortunate that those targeting Northam don't actually care about racism, but remaining in office stymies any agenda you may have.
 
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99% of my (D) friends are shocked and called for Northam's resignation immediately!
Yes, Democrats are like that. I think it happen along ago, and should be forgiven. If he did this a few days ago. Then he should get hell for a few months. Now I see rape and murder a lot worse .
 
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hislegacy

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What is his record in office?

What is his record since medical school.

Good grief how far the political correctness/racist agenda has gone, what next? Did he wet his pants in kindergarten? That would demonstrate he has no self control.
 
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Pommer

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What is his record in office?

What is his record since medical school.

Good grief how far the political correctness/racist agenda has gone, what next? Did he wet his pants in kindergarten? That would demonstrate he has no self control.
There are boundaries that the Democratic Party (and Party members) have staked out...this violates those boundaries.
It’s a matter of principle, and he needs to resign, (if he hasn’t done so already).
 
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Colter

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Anyone remember that former (D) Senator Robert Bird was the founder of the WV KKK? He remained in the Senate until 2010

Wiki:


In the early 1940s, Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to create a new chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Sophia, West Virginia.[10][11]

According to Byrd, a Klan official told him, "You have a talent for leadership, Bob ... The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation." Byrd later recalled, "Suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities! I was only 23 or 24 years old, and the thought of a political career had never really hit me. But strike me that night, it did."[17] Byrd became a recruiter and leader of his chapter.[11] When it came time to elect the top officer (Exalted Cyclops) in the local Klan unit, Byrd won unanimously.[11]

In December 1944, Byrd wrote to segregationist Mississippi Senator Theodore G. Bilbo:

I shall never fight in the armed forces with a negro by my side ... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.

— Robert C. Byrd, in a letter to Sen. Theodore Bilbo (D-MS), 1944
 
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What is his record in office?

What is his record since medical school.

Good grief how far the political correctness/racist agenda has gone, what next? Did he wet his pants in kindergarten? That would demonstrate he has no self control.

I am mortified by the photo but gosh ahmighty I do worry about the world we are creating. Indeed we seem to have leveraged technology to become as gods. We know literally every sin every person ever committed at any point in their lifetime. With that scrutiny there is not a human alive who could sit in judgement of another person.

Which would be a good thing. Maybe once ALL OUR SINS are clear and easily seen by EVERYONE ELSE we will dial it back a bit and ask if someone can, indeed, have been stupid and done incredibly dumb things when they were in their 20's.

I used to be a product of my upbringing (soft midwestern racist and homophobic) but thanks to the kindness of people I encountered in my life I've changed. I've grown and tried to become a better person. I remember those growth points and what turned me to finally think about that which was handed me.

If I were the VA governor I'd step down and say "Look, I don't recall this, but yeah, we did amazingly stupid stuff in the past." His recent attempt to say "that's not me!" is kinda pathetic. But indeed, we are all fallen and NONE of us deserve the respect of our fellow humans. The best we can hope for is to be gracefully granted that respect, even though we don't deserve it. The first step is to accept that we are flawed.
 
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I am mortified by the photo but gosh ahmighty I do worry about the world we are creating. Indeed we seem to have leveraged technology to become as gods. We know literally every sin every person ever committed at any point in their lifetime. With that scrutiny there is not a human alive who could sit in judgement of another person.

Which would be a good thing. Maybe once ALL OUR SINS are clear and easily seen by EVERYONE ELSE we will dial it back a bit and ask if someone can, indeed, have been stupid and done incredibly dumb things when they were in their 20's.

I used to be a product of my upbringing (soft midwestern racist and homophobic) but thanks to the kindness of people I encountered in my life I've changed. I've grown and tried to become a better person. I remember those growth points and what turned me to finally think about that which was handed me.

If I were the VA governor I'd step down and say "Look, I don't recall this, but yeah, we did amazingly stupid stuff in the past." His recent attempt to say "that's not me!" is kinda pathetic. But indeed, we are all fallen and NONE of us deserve the respect of our fellow humans. The best we can hope for is to be gracefully granted that respect, even though we don't deserve it. The first step is to accept that we are flawed.

The only thing I would add to this is ask for forgiveness for youthful stupidity.
 
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Ringo84

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As I've said many times before about Donny: to be forgiven, one must show some signs of understanding why something is wrong, showing the appropriate amount of (genuine) guilt for it, and showing signs of changing one's behavior. By clinging onto the office of governor and retracting his previous admission that it was him in the photos, Northam is not living up to that.
Ringo
 
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PreviouslySeeking...

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Here's the thing.
This was from 1984, not 1964. It actually wasn't "acceptable" back then. Maybe amongst homogeneous groups of White people, but Black folks didn't think it was cool to dress in blackface or as Klansmen. His youth also isn't an excuse. This was medical school, he wasn't a child. This was an offensive act that took forethought, it wasn't an offhand remark.

I'm in my 40s, I can remember college. While I certainly don't currently hold all the views I held back then- I do hold some. Not all actions taken in one's 20s can just be discounted, certainly not without explanation.

I'm not going to say what he did was unforgivable, but it isn't forgivable without explanation. He needs to be honest about where his head was then, where it is now & how he got there.
 
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I don’t think that a college costume from a time period in which that was acceptable is grounds to call for him to leave office.
When Congress creates a law that, on it face has a reasonable, rational, well-intentioned reason for existing, and the country goes and lives under this law, until it is found, (eventually) by the Supreme Court to be “unconstitutional”. This means that the person’s adversely affected to have suffered an injustice.

Blackface is such as a mark of underlying, (or surface), racism.
It has NEVER been “acceptable” to POC!
 
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