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Virginia Governor Northam refuses to step down, despite flood of calls for his resignation for ‘racist and offensive’ photo

  • Ralph Northam backtracks after apologising for image in a 1984 yearbook from Eastern Virginia Medical School

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Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Ralph Northam speaks during a campaign rally in Richmond, Virginia. Photo: AFP
The Guardian
Virginia’s governor, Ralph Northam, denied he was one of the people dressed in a Ku Klux Klan uniform or in blackface in a photo from his medical school yearbook page, amid pressure to resign. Delivering a statement in Richmond on Saturday afternoon, the Democrat conceded it would be difficult for many people to believe he was not in the photo when just 24 hours earlier he had said he was in it.

“I am not either of the people in the photo,” he said.

He also admitted to darkening his skin with shoe polish when he was young, to enter a dance contest in San Antonio, Texas, dressed as Michael Jackson.

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Earlier, Susan Swecker, chair of the Democratic party of Virginia, had said: “We made the decision to let Governor Northam do the correct thing and resign this morning – we have gotten word he will not do so. We stand with Democrats across Virginia and the country calling him to immediately resign.”

The photo was included on Northam’s 1984 yearbook page from Eastern Virginia Medical School and was made public on Friday. The Democratic governor then confirmed he was one of the two people in the photo, but did not identify which individual he was.

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This image shows Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s page in his 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. Photo: Eastern Virginia Medical School via AP
This image shows Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s page in his 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook. Photo: Eastern Virginia Medical School via AP
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