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

[Aryeh Jay]

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.

Was it was acceptable in 1984 to dress as a Klansman in your yearbook?

 

[Bumble Bee]

I wasn't born then.

 

[Ringo84]

I was; it was the year I was born.

A lot has changed in 35 years, but I'm pretty sure that blackface wasn't acceptable back in those days, and hadn't been decades before that.
Ringo

 

[Allandavid]

This issue is not one of “youthful indiscretion” which should be forgiven.

It is a case of a politician knowing that this evidence existed and said nothing about it when he commenced his run in politics.

Had he done so, had he laid his cards on the table at the beginning of his political career and offered his apologies then, it would have given his constituents an honest opportunity to choose him or reject him.

As it stands, the apologies sound hollow....are they genuine, or is he just saying what he needs to save his career...?

He must resign.

 

[Bumble Bee]

Why should he have dug out his yearbooks and tossed the pictures over the media and apologize for something that seemed to have no relevance to the current time? It looks to me like it was just dirt dug up to sling mud at a politician.

 

[Allandavid]

Why should he have dug out his yearbooks and tossed the pictures over the media and apologize for something that seemed to have no relevance to the current time? It looks to me like it was just dirt dug up to sling mud at a politician.

Because any politician worth their salt should know that anything unsavoury in their past will eventually be outed...it’s just the nature of politics.

And it’s not about “current time”...it’s about who he is. In the same way that Kavanaugh tried so hard to hide who he is, this man has allowed himself to be defined by his past secrets...

 

[Bumble Bee]

Kavanaugh was innocent of the allegations brought against him.

This man shouldn't be defined by those past secrets. He should be defined by the choices he has been making throughout his adult life. Show me more evidence of racism than a costume, and maybe I can see why he should resign. As it is right now, this is just grasping for straws.

 

[Pommer]

Why should he have dug out his yearbooks and tossed the pictures over the media and apologize for something that seemed to have no relevance to the current time? It looks to me like it was just dirt dug up to sling mud at a politician.

We shouldn’t vet our leaders?

Abdicate our responsibility to hold people “accountable”, but accountable to what?, if not a set of principles that must not have been breached at anytime in one’s past to hold a position of public trust?

 

[Bumble Bee]

We should vet our leaders. But if all we can find is a yearbook photo, we need to let it go.

 

[Allandavid]

Kavanaugh was innocent of the allegations brought against him.

This man shouldn't be defined by those past secrets. He should be defined by the choices he has been making throughout his adult life. Show me more evidence of racism than a costume, and maybe I can see why he should resign. As it is right now, this is just grasping for straws.

And one of those “choices” as an adult was to dress up in either blackface, or in a Klan outfit. Another “choice” as an adult was to foolishly keep it secret as he began a political career.

And if you can’t see either of those costumes as evidence of racism, then I can’t help you...

 

[Bumble Bee]

I am not saying the costumes aren't racist. I am saying that omitting a yearbook photo from a campaign 30 years later is not call for resignation.

 

[Allandavid]

We should vet our leaders. But if all we can find is a yearbook photo, we need to let it go.

So, dressing up like that in public was pretty minor...?

Ok....go put one of those costumes on yourself and go for a stroll through, say, some of the streets of South L.A. You might make it for a block...

 

[Bumble Bee]

At the time, yes it was minor. It is wrong and should not be condoned, but I don't think it's worth ending a career over 30 years later.

 

[Allandavid]

At the time, yes it was minor. It is wrong and should not be condoned, but I don't think it's worth ending a career over 30 years later.

Wrong. I see from your age that you weren’t even born at that time. I was in my 30s. I can assure you that such behaviour was considered unacceptable...

 

[USincognito]

Kavanaugh was innocent of the allegations brought against him.

Not even a court of law determines innocence. Courts instead determine guilt or the lack thereof. Kangaroo courts like that joke of a Senate committee hearing have an even worse track record.

 

[durangodawood]

How the hell does KKK imagery even get in a yearbook? I mean, who wants to invite associations of terror and murder?

 

[hislegacy]

I was; it was the year I was born.

A lot has changed in 35 years, but I'm pretty sure that blackface wasn't acceptable back in those days, and hadn't been decades before that.
Ringo

Explain Blazzing Saddles. No calls for racism, not calls for apologies,

Yet if I quoted the lines, or linked to it I would get banned

Why is that?

 

[durangodawood]

Explain Blazzing Saddles. No calls for racism, not calls for apologies,

Yet if I quoted the lines, or linked to it I would get banned

Why is that?

Because Gene Wilder. He gets a pass. No one else does.

 

[Colter]

An odd aside considering Northam said he never actually saw his yearbook, he "chose" what pics went on his page like the rest of his class.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/20...s-own-pictures-in-blackface-for-the-yearbook/

 

[Albion]

Kavanaugh was innocent of the allegations brought against him.

...which goes to the point that is missing in many of the responses we are reading--the hypocrisy of many political Liberals.

Now it is said to be unfair to damn the person over something that happened while he or she was a student, but when that person is NOT of the same party as the accusers...it is considered to be perfectly fair.

An odd aside considering Northam said he never actually saw his yearbook, he "chose" what pics went on his page like the rest of his class.

IMHO, his claim that he cannot remember which of the two figures he was--the Klansman or the guy in blackface--strikes me as even more unbelievable.