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RESISTING WIDESPREAD CALLS for his resignation, Virginia’s embattled governor has pledged 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 apologised for appearing in a photograph that featured what appeared to be a man in blackface and a second person cloaked in Ku Klux Klan garb. In a video posted on Twitter, he said he could not “undo the harm my behaviour caused then and today.”
But by yesterday, he reversed course and said the racist photo on his yearbook profile page did not feature him after all. 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.
“It has taken time for me to make sure that it’s not me, but I am convinced, I am convinced that I am not in that picture,” he told reporters gathered at the Executive Mansion in Richmond, calling the shot offensive and horrific.
While talking with reporters, Northam admitted that he had previously worn blackface around that time, saying 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 US 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, which includes virtually all of the state’s Democratic establishment.
After he spoke, both of Virginia’s US senators said they called Northam to tell him that he must resign.
In a joint statement last night, Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and the dean of Virginia’s congressional delegation, Rep. Bobby Scott, said the recent events “have inflicted immense pain and irrevocably broken the trust Virginians must have in their leaders.”
If Northam does resign, Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax would become the second African-American governor in the state’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, Lt. Gov. Justin 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 that people might have difficulty believing his shifting statements.
He 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 apologise,” he said, adding that he recognised that people would be offended by the photo. But after studying the picture and consulting with classmates, Northam said, “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 he also didn’t buy the class’s 1984 yearbook or see it until decades after it was published.
Broadnax defended his former classmate and said he’s not a racist, adding that the school would not have tolerated someone going to a party in blackface.
The yearbook images were first published on Friday afternoon by the conservative news outlet Big League Politics.
Northam spent years actively courting the black community in the lead-up to his 2017 gubernatorial run, building relationships that helped him win both the primary and the general election. He’s a member of a predominantly black church on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, where he grew up.
“It’s a matter of relationships and trust. That’s not something that you build overnight,” Northam told the AP during a 2017 campaign stop while describing his relationship with the black community.
In a tweet late on Saturday, President Donald Trump called Northam’s actions related to the photo and abortion debate “unforgivable!”
Like it or not, the statistics show that lower socioeconomic groups suffer from poorer health despite the fact they have free access to GPs while those in the middle class pay their way. Why is you ask? It’s education, diet and self responsibility. % of smokers is high and consumption of fast food also is high along with childhood obesity.. And who pays for this privilege?
Help those who need help, the elderly, the disabled and the infirm.
This ‘disaffected’ group who seem perfectly happy to receive welfare, housing, medical and financial and legal assistance from the state and contribute nothing can go wanting..
We spend 35% of the budget on social protection, sadly those that actually need it are being effected by those who are happy to take it..
End the welfare state now. The rest of us stand on our own two feet, so should you.
Jr, could it be , that their not as capable as the rest of us, not everyone can get a job, people are unemployed because there isn’t work for all,,
Free. GP cards maybe not, if we are going to pay labour then pay enough to live on, and cut out the extras, same problem we have with politicians , but then again the private sector is full of bonus payments also, nothing is straight forward
When there was work for all a lot of these people weren’t working either! There is an element of ‘entitlement’ out there in a small section of our society unfortunately :-(
well said JR, I am sick of those who won’t bother working sitting at home being paid as much as me, I break my bo**ox working to provide for my family, while neighbours of mine live in the same type house and have a great social life, sky sports, yearly holidays abroad and smoke. they drive better cars than me and receive free child care and yes, have medical cards. All paid for by Joan Burton who will not and has not cut the core rates. It pays to do f**k all in this country.
We shouldn’t be providing a living wage to people end of. Those that need it, get it. Plenty of jobs out there, certain sectors were busy having teenage pregnancies and going down the bookies when they should have been studying. Industry moves on and markets make decisions. It’s not our fault they were ‘busy’…
….and the other half are waiting in A & E departments throughout the country so couldn’t take part in the survey.
It’s plain to see that the health system needs fixing – and not a piecemeal reform which is just putting bandaids over major problems –
It Will Not Be Fixed By Cuts and empty promises
Cutting the health budget like they have is incredibly short sighted and unfair and will end up costing the government far far more in the long run
I had to take an unpaid day of work yesterday to spend 8.5hrs in A & E just for an X ray. I felt so bad as there were people with broken bones waiting all day also and I was a very minor case. But this is what I had to do to get an X ray to eliminate worry of fractured bone. Only a vending machine with crisps and chocolate for food. I got one old lady a chocolate bar at 6 PM … 6.5 hours after she got there. This was the first bit of food she had all day. The A and E structure…. or lack thereof. … is a disgrace.
We’re a nation of boozers & we all rate our health 8 out of 10… Good stuff!
Problem is the cuts are in front line care, sevices and staff. Not in the real difficult areas like management which seems ridiculously over staffed
The headline to this story should have been: “Drug company survey finds outcome that backs its own self interest”
If the govt stopped taxing us for a medical system that is over used and abused, maybe people would have an interest in their health, would people smoke if they couldn’t afford operations and would they stay out of mc Donald’s etc. this country is getting fatter
It’s a health system, not the frigging CAO.
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