Virginia governor Ralph Northam apologises for blackface and KKK photo in university yearbook

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam acknowledged on Friday that he appears in a photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page that shows a person in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe. The revelation of the photograph prompted some Republicans to call for his resignation. Northam quickly apologised. The Democratic governor confirmed in a statement 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 behaviour 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 Senator 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 were to resign, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who is African-American, would assume the governor’s office. The image is in a 1984 yearbook from Eastern Virginia Medical School on a page with photos of Northam and personal information about the future governor. Northam, a paediatric neurologist, graduated from the Norfolk medical school in 1984 after earlier graduating from Virginia Military Institute. The page is labelled 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 trousers, bow tie and black faced, and the other in full Klan robes. Both men appear to be holding beer cans. NBC dumps Megyn Kelly’s show after blackface comments The person in black face is smiling. Beneath the photo is a write-up about Northam listing his alma mater, noting that his interest is paediatrics and giving a quote: “There are more old drunks than old doctors in this world so I think I’ll have another beer.” A spokeswoman for the governor did not have an immediate response. The web site 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 is owned by Mustard Seed Media, an outfit headed by Reilly O’Neal, a political operative whose clients included former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. The revelation comes amid a wild week in which Northam, a Democrat, was criticised after he made comments defending a bill that would have lifted restrictions on late-term abortions. Northam has built his 12-year political career on a clean-cut image as a soft-spoken doctor and Army veteran who headed honour Council at VMI, a demanding job that required him to pass judgment on fellow students who lied or violated the school’s honour code. First elected to the state Senate from Norfolk, Virginia, in 2007, Northam has had a charmed political career. He was courted by Republicans because of his conservative leanings, and was identified early by then-Governor Tim Kaine, a Democrat, as future governor material because of his experience in both health care and the military. Northam served in the Army for eight years after medical school, treating soldiers wounded in the Gulf war. Politicos in Richmond, Virginia, reacted in muted disbelief, and many declined to speak on the record as the news first circulated Friday. Darlie: from blackface branding to East Asia’s favourite toothpaste Northam is not a dynamic public speaker, but has a reputation for sterling character that has won the trust of Republicans, who worked with him last year to pass Medicaid expansion after four years of resisting it under previous Governor Terry McAuliffe. When he ran for governor in 2017, Northam paid special attention to black churches, often attending two or three every Sunday. His home pastor is African-American. After the racial violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, that summer, Northam was among the quickest Virginia political figures to react, making an emotional plea that all Confederate monuments should come down. He later walked that back and now says it should be up to localities, but said recently that his personal belief is that such statues are harmful. Northam, 59, grew up on the Eastern Shore of Virginia in the fishing village of Onancock. His father was a judge and his mother was a schoolteacher. Northam and his brother attended desegregated public high school, where Northam played basketball and baseball. The origins of blackface date to minstrel shows from the 19th century, when white actors covered themselves in black grease paint to portray African Americans but in a cartoonish, dehumanising way. Prada stops selling US$550 monkey trinkets that resemble blackface The minstrel shows put forth racist notions of African Americans as primitive and inferior. Last week, Michael Ertel, Florida’s secretary of state resigned after the emergence of photos from 2005 of him in blackface, apparently mimicking victims of Hurricane Katrina. Former NBC journalist Megyn Kelly stirred controversy in October for defending blackface in Halloween costumes.