Jesus Fucking Christ:
BREAKING: Gov. Ralph Northam yearbook page shows blackface and Klan photohttps://t.co/6A89ejp5Ho
— The Virginian-Pilot (@virginianpilot) February 1, 2019
I don’t think Northam’s political career can or should survive this, do you? Loomis of LGM says the lieutenant governor is more progressive than Northam. Looks like Virginians will find out.
Seriously, WTF? This is fucking shameful, and it was shameful in 1984 too.
lamh36
Hey… Happy Black History Month…amirite!
SMH…
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
Reposting from below:
Fuck. I hope this doesn’t hurt Dems this November in Virginia. It probably won’t.
However, given Northam’s age, he may not be particularly proud of that moment in his life any longer. If it was him in that picture, he needs to apologize and say that no longer represents his beliefs.
Given the GOP’s defense of Confederate monuments, I highly doubt their sincerity in this. Why wasn’t this used when he first ran for governor in 2017?
stinger
Wow. Unbelievable indeed. I wonder what mechanism exists to get rid of him in the middle of a term? I hope there’s something.
Mary G
Brett Kavanaugh survived boof-gate, but Democrats hold themselves to higher standards, so he needs to apologize and resign.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@stinger:
Hold on a minute. This was from 1984. Sure it was unacceptable then as it is now, but maybe Northam has changed since then, assuming the yearbook picture is real and it is him? Shouldn’t we give him a chance to explain himself first?
JPL
Northam got screwed by the right saying he believed in infanticide, but let’s face it black face was wrong in 1984. If it were 1954 maybe, but this is not close.
hitchhiker
1984 … young jackals, consider it! A medical school year book blithely printed this image not back in civil war days, not during the roaring 20s, not during Vietnam, but easily within my adult memory. Actually, I was 32 yrs old when this happened.
Northam’s done.
Death Panel Truck
@stinger: Resignation in disgrace.
tobie
JFC is right. This is horrible.
colleeniem
Welcome Governor Fairfax!
PsiFighter37
Guess Mark Herring is going to have to wait another term as AG before running for governor…
Brachiator
Pictures from 1984. I wouldn’t dump him until you had dumped Republican politicians with similar past misdeeds.
Olivia
Is it him in the photo? I see the photo of the blackface but I’m not clear on who it is.
PhoenixRising
Gillespie’s campaign oppo team owes him a refund.
Mike in DC
He should resign. And the House should vote to expel Steve King.
schrodingers_cat
Is it him in the robe and or in the blackface?
lamh36
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: ok…but it was NOT ok in 1984 either…
Mary G
Stacey Abrams disputes Francis Fukakyama’s criticism of “identity politics” in Foreign Affairs.
She is so smart. Giving her the VP nomination would be a waste.
Betty Cracker
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: He should resign today if that is him.
FlipYrWhig
I will be sad if this is what it looks like.
SiubhanDuinne
Agreed. Assuming it is actually Northam, he needs to issue a full-throated apology, and then, in the second paragraph, resign from political life, effective immediately.
Jesus God, people can be stupid.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lamh36:
No it wasn’t. But maybe he’s changed since then. Assuming it’s him.
Betty Cracker
@lamh36: Nope, it sure wasn’t. Even in my hick-ass hometown high school at roughly the same time, we would have known that was racist as fuck.
lamh36
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: let me ask you this…how comfortable should I be as a Black person w/a doctor who likes to dress in Blackface and maybe KKK robes?
NotMax
When was working at a summer camp (mid-60s through early 80s) there were some who had been on staff since the Pliocene. Every year one of them would push to “bring back the annual minstrel show, that was such fun.” And every year, thankfully, the suggestion went over like a depleted uranium balloon.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Obviously, that should be “Northam,” not “Northampton.” Tried to unfuck the autocorrection that wasn’t, but suddenly I don’t have permission to edit my own comment? WTF?
The Dangerman
@PhoenixRising:
Not only that, but they will never be hired again for that role; time to work on the resumes.
trollhattan
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Shorter Virginia Republicans: “Why does he get to have all the fun?”
JPL
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: My sons were 5 and 7 and they new better than, so that’s not a real excuse. He hopefully has changed but he was an adult making a bad decision. no excuses
At the time we lived in TX and it wasn’t acceptable.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Betty Cracker:
That’s probably what’s going to end up happening, if it’s him. And he should for the party and because it would be the right thing to do.
lamh36
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: no offense, but if I had a dollar for everytime someone said “maybe he’s changed” when it comes to white folks and racism I’d be rich..also if that was true, would we have a President Chump?
Kent
I was a college sophomore in 1984. This is racist as fuck and we would have called it out as so back then. In 1984-1985 at my college there was a big campaign for divestment in South Africa for its apartheid policies. Students were protesting and actually occupied the administration building at the time in a campaign to get the college endowment fund to divest from companies that had operations in South Africa.
This was the time of Nelson Mandela. And here in the US it brought out a lot of racist defenders of South Africa at the time as well. Mostly couched in veiled racist cold war terms as South Africa was seen as a bulwark against communism.
This was the political context of college life in 1984, at least as I lived it. No one I know would have dreamed of either blackface or KKK robes in a college yearbook. That is so 1950s.
But her emails!!!
The only question is whether it’s real or rat fucking. Real then apologize and resign. If fake, then that paper better no longer exist as a going concern in a few months
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator: We’re supposed to be better than them, remember?
catclub
I think he should say he was planning on being a republican, but as he matured, his politics changed.
Sebastian
He’ll resign within 48 hours.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lamh36:
That’s…an excellent point actually. I see where you’re coming from. I just hate that this had to happen and would like to give Northam the benefit of the doubt until it’s either proven that’s him in blackface or he admits it.
Tim C.
He’s out Done. Part of being a Democrat is actually believing in things. And while I think personal redemption is possible from this is possible, political redemption isn’t.
Betty Cracker
@SiubhanDuinne: I fixed it since I know it would have driven you nuts! ?
catclub
@The Dangerman: GOP operatives don’t identify that behavior as a handicap. They probably flipped right past it.
FlipYrWhig
My only hesitation is that Northam has been running for things in Virginia for years, including a race in 2013 for Lt. Gov. against an African-American conservative, and you’d think that something this gross would have surfaced by now.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@JPL:
Good point. He was an adult and should’ve known better
NotMax
On the plus side,
WaterGirl
I think we all need to keep using “IF this is true” before we throw him under the bus. At this point, surely we have learned that we have to eliminate ratfucking and enemy action before taking action.
JustRuss
I graduated from a Southernish university in 1984, and this is beyond the pale of anything I witnessed. Being stupid while in college isn’t necessarily disqualifying, but Northam has some ‘splaining to do. And his actions since then should be under a microscope to see if he continued this behavior.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: So noble, that we always fall on our swords.
I would give Northam a chance to explain himself, first. Also I am curious, as to why this didn’t come up before.
ETA: How do these yearbooks work. Is the assumption that all the photos are his?
different-church-lady
Really really poor judgement: if he had gang-raped a woman at a party and then become a republican he’d be on the Supreme Court.
Duane
@Mike in DC: There’s the difference between D’s and R’s. If it’s Northam he’ll resign. Republicans would say ” youthful indiscretions” or some other nonsense and carry on. And get away with it.
Kent
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
This wasn’t like Kavanaugh’s HS yearbook. This is a medical school yearbook. So he is mid-20s minimum. Most people have long grown out of their normal HS stupidities by then.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@NotMax:
That tracks with my understanding of the so-called alt-right. They agree that white people are awesome but on little else, so they’re almost constantly fighting each other. It’s something I’m very much thankful for.
Betty Cracker
@FlipYrWhig: A conservative asshole on Twitter posted the photo earlier, and I figured it was fake. But that’s a respectable daily, no? Maybe prior opponents just had shitty staff. I hope it’s fake, but it seems to be real.
Elizabelle
Ralph Northam is a pediatric neurologist. He served in the Army.
I don’t like the “off with his head” shit here. I truly do not. There is a whole career out there to judge him by.
I find it interesting this comes out just as the “infanticide!” screams are gathering strength, over legislation in the Virginia House of Delegates to, as I understand it, provide protection to women who have to end late stage pregnancies, often because the fetus is not developing or has died.
I will be very interested in the explanation for the racist imagery, and a serious apology, but I don’t think Northam should be hounded out of public life. Actually, it surprises me something like this did not come up earlier. And people can absolutely change.
If from medical school, this photo predates his Army service. Where he served military families of all races and creed, and no doubt civilians as well. Northam is a well-respected legislator out of the Tidewater region of Virginia.
To all you jackals shrieking “Off with his head!” Why don’t you get your asses out there and run for office?
catclub
Given that his UNI was VMI Virginia Military Inst. I think he could sell that he was planning on being GOP.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
The story doesn’t say it’s him but his bio is right underneath so it’s a good bet it is.
Elizabelle
@catclub: You know, the Republicans tried very hard to get him to switch political parties, maybe ten years back.
Boussinesque
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: that’s my recollection from some of the David Neiwart stuff I’ve read as well. Bunch of fractious, violent, grifting, egotistical blowhards that love to play the victim and think that they’re God’s gift to the world.
…this also reminds me that I still have Neiwart’s latest to work through, Alt-America. He’s really good, but the subject matter is just so fundamentally depressing.
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: I agree with you.
chris
Link
Hard to believe this never surfaced before and the person who found it is a bit sketchy but…
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
Two words: Al Franken.
I don’t believe in political suicide to help Republicans just to prove to … somebody (who?) that we’re better than they are. What is Northam’s record as governor? Has he done or said racist shit since 1984?
Also, in regard to being better, 5 words: Elaine’s hair and Louie’s revenge
cynthia ackerman
Just so I’m clear, this is a grad school yearbook, not high school. So an excuse of adolescent poor judgment isn’t available.
Even so, my own experience says not to rush to a conclusion.
This could have been an extremely ill-considered attempt at humor — what if the person under the hood is his black best friend, and all their buddies were in on the joke?
He owes the world an explanation. It had better be very good and 100% convincing, with receipts.
Until then, the most I will say is, “Wow, pretty stupid choice, whoever made it.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
As indeed it did! Many thanks.
guachi
“I was a Republican in college. Then I grew up.”
Would that work?
Miss Bianca
I dunno why, when this is showing up on the heels of some other flap concerning Northam, I am getting a strong whiff of rodent copulation. Looks bad, but am reserving judgement for now.
Ceci7
He needs to resign, period. Fairfax can do the job. The “rush to judgment” is appropriate.
guachi
Huh.
Has their website crashed or has The Virginian-Pilot removed the article entirely?
catclub
@Duane:
Henry Hyde, of anti-abortion funding language had his youthful indiscretion (an adulterous affair) when he was 45. No impact on his career.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@WaterGirl:
I would have thought so, too. Initial source was a RWNJ site.
But. In the half hour since I first saw this reported, WaPo had added that they’ve looked at the copy of the yearbook in the medical school library in Norfolk, and it’s genuine.
gwangung
It’s him. And he needs to do a LOT of penance (PUBLIC penance) before he’s allowed back into public life.
A Ghost To Most
@Brachiator:
Thank you. People who (for example) voted for Nader in Florida in 2000 should show a little humility.
catclub
@guachi: beat ya to it.
Adam L Silverman
I have only five questions:
1) is that him in that picture or is it something that was put on his page by the yearbook staff?
2) Why didn’t his own in house oppo team turn this up when doing their own pre candidacy oppo review.
3) Why didn’t Pierello’s or Gardner’s oppo teams turn this up?
4) Is this in any other copies of the yearbook?
5) Who tipped off Big League Politics?
6) If this is him, when is he resigning?
JPL
@Elizabelle: I like him, and I assume that he is a different individual then when he was at school. The problem that I have is it occurred in 1984.
The same year my youngest came home from school and asked what color he was. He didn’t understand this black and white stuff cuz no one was really black or really white. My son was a blue eyed blonde at the time. Still blue eyed but hair is brown.
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady:
Right!
JPL
I’d like to know what the rest of the yearbooks looks like though.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@guachi:
It’s weird. I can’t find it on their website anywhere.
Baud
This was the argument with Franken too and I always found it disconcerting. If we’re really upholding standards of conduct (and we are better than the other side on this), I don’t see how we look good talking about how it won’t politically cost us anything.
Horrible situation all around.
trollhattan
Speaking of the wrong guy elected at the wrong time, good on Brazil for electing a dude hellbent on mowing down the Amazon more faster than ever. How’s that going?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-47096011
FlipYrWhig
@cynthia ackerman: I’m holding out hope that it’s a product of something like “it’s a costume party where you dress as the most offensive thing you can think of.”
JR
@lamh36: no context makes this acceptable. Not 1954 never mind 1984.
Lyrebird
@JustRuss: I lived in Virginia in 1984, and though I wish I could say something else, this is not at all beyond the attitudes I heard. Plus it says he went to VMI, where they are proud to exclude as many types of people as they can and haze and humiliate people as much as possible.
ETA: I am not saying it is not bad.
cynthia ackerman
@Elizabelle:
You said it better than I did.
colleeniem
@But her emails!!!: True, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. What’s up with the medical school thinking that picture was cool to publish, regardless of who it is? That seems really strange. I’m not defending Northham, but wouldn’t a medical school in Virginia have, at the VERY least (and I mean very) some sense of self preservation in 1984? Jeez.
catclub
@schrodingers_cat: @Elizabelle:
me too.
Adam L Silverman
@Mary G: Also, Francis Fukuyama isn’t very smart. Well educated? Yes. Smart? Not so much.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
“The End of History”, anyone?
JPL
@NotMax: The biggest white nationalist in the country could be here for the game. Secret Service has been prepping for a visit, just in case.
I hope not though.
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: I’m trying to imagine what black Virginians who worked their asses off to elect this guy must be feeling right now. Is there anything he could possibly say to restore their faith?
Cacti
Wow. Just, wow.
JoeyJoeJoe
This might be off topic, but I remember when Ted Danson did this at a birthday party for Whoopi Goldberg in 1994. It was in the news, but definitely didn’t kill his career. Lucky for him, I don’t think too many people remember that event
ruemara
I’m gonna shrug and say, duh. How many white folks are getting called out every year for black face? It’s 2019. I fully expect 2019 Halloween to bring a few blackface famous selfies, as it does every year. Many are edgy teens. Why? Because being offensive is edgy cool fun for people. It doesn’t matter that it was 1984 or if it’s 2024. People definitely know better, but that’s why it’s fun to be “edgy”. It’s Virginia. It’s a bunch of upper class white guys. Whether or not it’s him, I’m going to just shrug. And no, he shouldn’t resign. Fuck the VA GOP. You got rapists, drunkards, pedophiles, neonazis etc being considered fit for office, but this should remove the fucking governor? Are you fucking kidding me with this? Spare me. Use it to teach kids that blackface and pepe signs aren’t cool. Goddamn, quit falling for the fucking bait. I’m out here watching respect woker than thous make worse mistakes and this is supposed to finish Northam’s tenure as gov? Christ on a cracker, learn something like strategy so you can quit losing so much to Keystone Klan Korps called the GOP. They’re watching to see if they can get your reactions to be like this. It’s the whole point of oppo research. They know we like to grandstand. We lose elections because we’re all “we’re better than this”. Like donating to the NC GOP office, so they’re back doing voter suppression in time for the election.
Learn to take a knife out your back & use it to gut your enemy.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: I will answer you in a few.
The WaPost story: first part: Va. Gov. Northam’s medical school yearbook page shows men in blackface, KKK robe
jacy
@Kent:
Having been on a medical school track in college, I can attest that pre-med/med school students can be a special kind of stupid. Not to mention arrogant. (Not letting him off the hook. If this is not a hoax, he should resign. I do want to hear what he says.)
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
Per the Virginia-Pilot article, someone went to his medical school and dug out the 1984 yearbook and took a picture of the page.
Maybe no one else thought to do that?
Kay
So. He resigned.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lamh36:
I also just want to say I understand completely here what you’re saying. You shouldn’t feel comfortable at all in that situation. If it is him, I think he needs to apologize and resign. I sincerely apologize for being insensitive.
schrodingers_cat
@ruemara: Standing ovation. We are in an existential crisis, we can’t afford this kind of stupid.
Elizabelle
Second part of the WaPost story (headline and link above), 2 of 3 excerpts:
Brachiator
@Baud:
Every infraction should not be a capital offense.
If the standards of conduct are not honored equally by Republicans and Democrats you only give aid and comfort to your enemies by empty gestures of purity, especially where circumstances have probably been deliberately engineered by the opposition.
Elizabelle
Last part of the WaPost story, which deals with Northam’s medical and political career:
Baud
Ted Danson appeared in blackface at a 1993 roast of Whoopie Goldberg and that didn’t keep him from having a successful career on CSI: Cyber.
Brickley Paiste
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
No. He must resign immediately per the Franken Rule.
lamh36
If this was a Republican governor…with the same time of non-progressive, but not overtly discriminatory policies, would so many of you be so willing to say “oh maybe he has changed?”
Let’s be REALLY honest here. Be real honest…
Cause tell you, my answer would not be different.
He needs to explain himself, and even if he does, he can count on not getting Black folks votes again
jacy
@Elizabelle:
I would definitely hold off even thinking anything until we find out if he is one of the two actually pictured. I’ve been on a lot of yearbook staffs, and them putting a picture on a page may have nothing to do with a name on a page. I’m sure there were out-n-proud racist yahoos in his school. He should not be shunned for being in proximity of them. He didn’t lay out the yearbook. So everybody needs to hold off until he makes a statement.
Baud
@Kay: That there is probably the nail in the coffin for Northam, since that just happened.
eemom
@WaterGirl:
THANK YOU. But the sheep/mob brigade never fucking learns that, and sadly, this place is no exception.
schrodingers_cat
@eemom: There is a significant minority on this page, not clamoring for Northam’s head.
Baud
@lamh36: I usually agree with you but I have no compunction about being more skeptical of Republicans than Democrats.
FlipYrWhig
My wild-ass hunch is that they’re pictures from a theme party and that the theme was “odd couples.”
WaterGirl
@Ceci7: Rush to judgment is never appropriate, and never wise.
lamh36
ruemara
@lamh36: In another time, in another place, him being a republican would probably cause a bigger shrug. I don’t expect better from these people. ESPECIALLY the upper class ones.
Kay
@Baud:
I think it’s the inevitable comparison.
Sebastian
@ruemara:
Thank you for writing this. I will follow your lead.
Elizabelle
After this, I want you all to turn your attention to tearing John Cole from limb to limb. Purity, folks. No one should ever get a second chance.
I am shocked about that photograph. Shocked that it exists, shocked that it did not come out years ago. This would seem to be something that one could get past, when put up against the entirety of a career which was absolutely spent in public service.
Although maybe not in these days of “quick — to my keyboard!”
In Virginia, we have an excellent Lt. Governor — Justin Fairfax, and a superb Attorney General, Mark Herring. We will do fine. But I hate to see Ralph Northam’s career come down to a photograph when there is so much more to it.
guachi
@WaterGirl: Never stopped people on BJ before.
Brachiator
@Elizabelle:
To hell with these ass wipes. Yeah, we are better than they are. We don’t over-react to deliberate attempts to derail implementing rational policies.
My offer. Yeah, the governor should resign. A day after Trump resigns.
Ruviana
@Elizabelle: Thank you! Thid is beginning to feel like a runaway train.
Cacti
He should explain himself, and offer his resignation.
I know that’s not what some juicers want to hear, but we have to have standards about this.
SiubhanDuinne
Let’s suppose for a minute that neither Blackface Guy nor KKK Dude is Northam. Maybe he didn’t even know either one of them. Maybe he had no awareness of the costume event depicted in a photo on his page. Maybe the first time he ever laid eyes on this picture was the day he picked up his copy of the yearbook.
And I guaranfuckingtee he turned to his own page in the yearbook the second his copy arrived. If he had the slightest awareness that blackface/Klan imagery were potentially, let alone actually, offensive, he should have protested loudly and publicly to the yb’s editors.
But apparently he has said nothing about this for a quarter of a fucking century. His team should have unearthed it and dealt with it openly during his 2017 campaign. They didn’t.
I hate it when fellow Dems display this level of stupidity, arrogance, and incompetence. But better to lance the boil promptly than to let it fester.
Fuckfuckfuck.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Elizabelle: “The yearbook image was first posted Friday by the website Big League Politics, a conservative outlet founded by Patrick Howley, a former writer for the Daily Caller and Breitbart.”
It is me, or do I sense BS going on.
Kent
@FlipYrWhig:
Seems plausible. I’m sure we will get the real explanation soon. This is not something his office can just let fester.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Yep, that Republican SecState appointee resigned, and it was the right thing to do. Wondering what the reaction would have been here if I posted that here and said, “Aw, give him a chance, people!”
No, I don’t really wonder at all. And as far as records go, that guy’s was about as good as you could’ve hoped for from DeSantis.
rikyrah
So…
The Governor of Virginia in Blackface??
There is nothing to explain.
I just had this conversation with Peanut. I had to explain to her about blackface. She is 10. Don’t tell me that a COLLEGE STUDENT didn’t know how offensive it is…??
Baud
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Right wingers sometimes unearth legitimate controversies. Elliot Switzer really did visit prostitutes and John Edwards really did have a live child.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Betty Cracker:
I’m sorry.
Brickley Paiste
@Elizabelle:
One person (may) have dressed up as a Klansman or in blackface. Another supported an unjust war built on transparently flimsy evidence that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians, cost the US a trillion dollars, and destabilized the region.
Who, really, is worse?
lamh36
What makes it worse?
The casual racism and that so many can’t see that reminds me of Dr. King said.
It’s not the overt sinister behavior that keeps this all going…it’s the CASUALNESS of it all and the CASUALNESS with which too many white folk take it when something like this happens. It’s why GOP get away with it. GOP don’t need to worry as much about losing the Black vote, they never really even plan to get it much…
LIke oh hey…let’s put on a KKK robe and blackface…no biggie…
It should a big deal…
Oh and just an FYI…some political context from 1984…
GOVCHRIS1988
Ok, can I say this as a black man.
That if any white Republican or white Democrat is seeing this in terms of politics alone, you really don’t get the problem with this. If you’re seeing this only as, “Well, it was in 1984 so it was more accepted then.” which by the way was the same year we finally got Dr. King the national holiday as well as the fact that school segregation at least in law had ended, not to mention that they made documentaries around that time that fully discuss this shit, “Ethnic Notions, 1985. Narrated by actress Esther Rolle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XolTnP83wE
This is not a Republican or a Democratic problem, this is a white problem. WHY would you wear blackface? WHY would you dress up in garb meant to showcase us, in the most horrible light? In the most demeaning, childlike way? To both oversexualize us and have our intellect questioned, our manners, our humanity? To you, this may have been just fun, to me and people like me its a stab in the heart to our humanity. You’ve got to see that and you’ve got to see why this is such a problem.
Miss Bianca
@Elizabelle: Let me see if I’ve got this straight…Virginia GOP says “racism has no place in Virginia politics.”
Meanwhile, didn’t a bunch of Virginia state reps just vote to overrrule community standards on whether or not they could remove Confederate monuments, because “Confederate nationalism” or some such was being threatened?
Could it possibly be that a). racism certainly does have a place in Virginia politics, and b). that the Virginia state GOP chairman might, just possibly, not be making a good-faith argument?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@lamh36:
Did you see my comment at 95?
Ella in New Mexico
@FlipYrWhig:
I lived in Virginia and attended college there as well as lived in the Norfolk area in the early 80’s and believe me, this kind of thing wouldn’t surprise me. It was an era in which someone could easily do something like this and everyone would laugh and say “all in good fun”. I remember my husband complaining his Navy shipmates used to “jokingly” ask the one black navigation ET in his area questions like “would your lips flap so much they’d knock you out if you stuck your head out the car window?” or ” why do Blacks have such big booties?” and he was supposed to be a good sport. My husband angrily stepped in and shut that shit down on more than one occasion and likely the only thing that kept him from being turned on was he was he had a reputation for having a really hot temper and he was their supervisor.
So yeah, in 1984 there were still a lot of racists, even in urban Virginia. But plenty of people knew that blackface and KKK costuming was racist and would have never thought this was a joke.
Seriously, HOW did something THIS EASY to find not show up somewhere before now? Makes no sense. But I’m not going full Kirsten Gillibrand before I know the facts of the situation.
If it’s true he not only owes everyone an explanation and an apology, but he should fucking resign if he doesn’t make one hell of a case for himself. Whatever that could be I’m not sure.
Jeffro
1) I will be interested to hear his explanation and I have a funny feeling that there actually is an explanation, albeit one we will not like
2) Virginia limits its governor to one term anyway
Having said all of that, I am 110% OK with justin Fairfax taking over in the Commonwealth tomorrow morning. He is a marvelous progressive with a bright future
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@SiubhanDuinne: The source of this is a Breitbart spin off, it’s not entirely impossible is just outright faked.
Wild Cat
Possible ratfucking.
Wait 24 hours. This is unvetted shit.
Brachiator
@lamh36:
I have no idea whether he has changed.
My question is what has he done as governor and while governor.
I assume that many people are racist or sexist. I also see people trying to overcome their racism and sexism. I also see that some people revel in their wickedness, and actively try to harm women and people of color. These last people are my main concern.
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
AFAIK, John Cole holds no high elective office. FFS, as I confessed here a few weeks ago, I was an active Randroid in the 1960s. If I were ever to consider running for office (which dog forbid), I’d out myself on Day One.
It’s nothing to do with purity. It’s to do with judgement (or, in Northam’s case, the lack thereof).
A Ghost To Most
@lamh36: I was living in MD then, and people were still burning crosses up on Braddock Heights, so all the folks in Frederick could see. Casual racism abounded.
ruemara
@GOVCHRIS1988: on going problem. On fucking going problem. Call me when people stop doing it.
Elizabelle
You guys, this has been a really hard day for me. The Virginia legislator who co-sponsored the House bill that has all the usual hotheads screaming “infanticide!” is, literally, a former neighbor of mine. A few houses down the street. Kathy Tran. One of the bright young political stars on the cover of Time magazine.
My neighbors are telling me they are seeing increased police patrols of the neighborhood. Which is a cul de sac.
And a fellow neighbor put up a FB post on how she lost a pregnancy very close to term, a little daughter who died in the womb very late. Her first baby. And that is often the nature of late term abortions.
Other women I know chimed in with stories of their D&Cs, for wanted pregnancies.
Ralph Northam was a PEDIATRIC neurologist. Can you imagine the medical tragedies he has seen? And how, over time, there is more and more progress for hard medical cases, but not for all of them?
Kathy Tran was planning to hold a Town Hall tomorrow. It was cancelled very late today, for security reasons. Kathy is not afraid of her constituents. But this one was about to be swamped by the pro-life crowd.
Northam was very protective of Kathy, and understands the reason for the legislation, which is very easily depicted as INFANTICIDE.
So, I am thinking about all of that, and then I come to this blog and you are all screaming “Off with his head!”
And I think about the less admirable qualities of jackals. Are they pack animals? Maybe so.
I want to learn more, because this is out of character with the political figure I know now. Which might be the tack a lot of African Americans take.
Baud
@Miss Bianca:
They certainly don’t have the credibility to enforce our standards against us. But we still have the responsibility to enforce our standards against us.
Ella in New Mexico
@Elizabelle:
I agree with you. Like I said, let’s not go full Gillibrand on this guy before he even has a chance to respond or some good investigative journalism is done.
It’s not beyond reason that this situation is not what it appears to be.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Let’s also suppose he never ordered a copy of his yearbook, and the first time he saw that was today.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I’m somewhat surprised medical schools have yearbooks.
WaterGirl
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: IF BS is spelled “rat fucking”, then yes, I think there’s a good chance that you are right.
randy khan
Loomis doesn’t really know a huge amount about Virginia politics, apparently. Calling Northam a conservadem is silly – he’s really, really pro choice, he just managed to get Medicaid expansion in place, he’s got gun control on his agenda, etc., etc. In the 2017 primary, he was to the left of Perriello, the supposed darling of the left (who wasn’t really, which is one reason Northam won). It’s likely that Fairfax would be about as good as Northam on the issues, but not meaningfully better.
But, let me say, dear God this is awful. I’ve met the guy, and liked him, but if this is him, it really doesn’t matter.
Elizabelle
@Miss Bianca: I know. “Racism has no place in Virginia politics.” When their last relatively mild-mannered GOP candidate for governor, whom Northam defeated, soundly, ran on all MS-13, all the time.
Tell us some more, Virginia GOP man.
Miss Bianca
@Miss Bianca: Just to make it clear…I’m not cool with racist displays. I just find the timing suspicious on this reveal, and find myself wishing that people would wait until Northam actually says something about it before going off on a “he must resign” tear, since Democrats get ratfucked by Republicans on a daily basis, and it’s not because *they* disapprove of racism or sexism. They approve of it just fine, but they love being able to use it as a tool to hurt Democrats.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
As a Virginia, I’m going to chime in here to say that so far, I’m dubious. As somebody has already brought up upthread, he ran two state senate races and two statewide races and this never came up. Beyond that, I’m still unclear about who has yet seen this picture first-hand. Do we know that yet? And lastly, I’m just going to point out that printers sometimes fuck up. Where there should be a picture of my friends and me on our track team in my high school yearbook, there’s a picture of some girls from some other team from some other high school.
Brickley Paiste
@randy khan:
Loomis doesn’t really know a huge amount about anything.
His anti-ketchup bias points to some real psychological issues.
WaterGirl
@Kent:
That’s absolutely true.
It’s also true that you don’t want your first move or first statement to be the wrong one, so perhaps he is trying to speak to an expert in how to handle something like this. Most of us don’t have Olivia Pope on speed dial.
I am not going to condemn him until we actually know he was involved in the incident and there’s not an innocent explanation, like the one proposed above.
KSinMA
@Betty Cracker: Northampton thanks you!
NotMax
@rikyrah
Hoping you included a mention that although it makes it no less offensive, in the heyday of vaudeville (and for some years after) “putting on the cork” was not limited to white performers.
Fair Economist
I have completely changed my political beliefs over the past 35 years so I don’t think offensive but not criminal activity from so far back is a reason to demand resignation. People do reform, and for that to be possible they have to be allowed to reform.
Brachiator
@Baud:
They do so for their political advantage. This does not relieve us from the responsibility to looking at the larger picture.
Jay
The story is an hour old.
The Governor has yet to respond.
Only a single copy of the yearbook has surfaced.
Wait and see.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.): WaPo has confirmed that the photo exists in the copy of the yearbook at the medical school library.
What we don’t know is if it’s him in the photo.
schrodingers_cat
@Elizabelle: I smell a rat here.
Martin
@Wild Cat: It is a little on the nose. That said, it was Virginia (you’re making good progress Virginia!)
He deserves the opportunity to give an explanation. Unless it’s a doozy like an error at the printer, or ratfucking, then he should resign. I don’t much care if he was Republican-curious at the time. I’m a bit odd in that I think that if you fucked up earlier in life, and didn’t own up to and make amends for your fuckup, then you take your lumps when you’re caught as if you just did it.
My issue with Kavanaugh was that his behavior should have disqualified him from all manner of things, from becoming a lawyer to becoming a judge. His station in life is only due to that being covered up for so long. That applies here as well. If that’s Northam, then what opportunities did he take from other people that didn’t dress up like Steve King for Halloween? And for that he needs to pay his dues. Earlier in life they would have been cheaper, but it seems to me he’s gotten pretty far thanks to nobody knowing that. The bill is a lot higher as a result.
I don’t really care who happens to be Lt Gov, my view would be the same. That said, after he resigns, I’m happy to have him prove he’s a different person and invite him back into the fold. I don’t think mistakes should permanently bar you from society, but you need to pay for those mistakes and you need to genuinely prove that you’ve learned from them and use those lessons to benefit others.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Me, too!
Mnemosyne
@JoeyJoeJoe:
It didn’t kill his career, but it did kill that relationship dead, and she was the woman he left his first wife to be with.
Water under the bridge, they’re both in happy long-term relationships with other people now (Danson with Mary Steenburgen, Goldberg with Frank Langella), but Danson had to go on a huge public apology tour in addition to the breakup.
A Ghost To Most
@Elizabelle:
Pie filters put people in lanes.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
If it is him, he should resign. End of story.
This youthful indiscretion BS from his allies (“who would want their college years examined?”) is utter crap. There should be political consequences for this kind of behavior, even if only one of our political parties is willing to hold their politicians to any kind of standards.
Elizabelle
Adam’s put a fresh thread up. About Governor Northam.
Illustrated with the fuckery cat we all like.
Elizabelle
My comment’s in moderation. Not sure why.
GOVCHRIS1988
@NotMax: They HAD to do that if they wanted to perform for white audiences. They didn’t do it willingly. It is explained in the documentary Ethnic Notions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XolTnP83wE
TomatoQueen
Elizabelle has presented the oppo argument. Gov Ralph has apologized just now, but has not offered to resign.
I smell ratfckery, but wonder why this has appeared only now and not during the campaign? Note also that
Northam’s developed quite a cozy relationship with Dominion Power, which has not endeared him to progressives on my fcbk feed.
Since he’s not Robert Byrd, he’ll never survive this.
WaterGirl
@A Ghost To Most: I would really like to take you up on your offer as a database expert. Is there any way we could email or talk on the phone?
Elizabelle
Northam has put out a statement: Per the Richmond Times Dispatch:
eemom
Just saw his statement on teevee. It IS him, he’s sorry, and it’s not who he is.
ETA: @Elizabelle IOW, what you said.
lamh36
It’s him!
https://twitter.com/ryanobles/status/1091474639522537478
Elizabelle
@eemom: That all sounds like truth to me.
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
Bad judgement in the past is a capital offense in the present?
SiubhanDuinne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I allow for that possibility (I began my comment #21 with “Assuming it is actually Northam…”)
But from what I gather — have not yet read the WaPo piece — it would appear that they have verified that the offensive photo is on Northam’s page in the yearbook. In other words, it’s apparently not a photoshopped fake image cobbled together by Breitbart.
I’ll be beyond glad if this turns out to be GOP ratfucking, with Northam as innocent as a newborn babe. And if that’s the case, I will cheerfully admit my wrongness. But right now, I can’t come up with an even remotely plausible explanation without getting into “all of Obama’s birth announcements in the newspapers were faked” territory.
Elizabelle
Statement confirms Northam is in the photo, but does not say as which character.
eemom
@Elizabelle:
I’m sorry about your day, and I agree with every word you said, except that one. Please, please PLEASE don’t use that loathsome lie to describe those monsters. It literally drives me crazy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Brachiator:
Oh FFS, knock it off with the “capital offence” crap.
lamh36
He was 25, proof once again their is never an age where white men aren’t able to claim “youthful discretion”…wish the same claim was able to be used by Black and Brown folk…nope…we just get shot, arrested, jailed or killed…
Must be nice to have the complexion for protection…
SiubhanDuinne
@Elizabelle:
Does it matter?
Miss Bianca
@Baud: Yes, fine, I have made my peace with the Franken flap, even tho’ I’m pretty sure that a lot of that was GOP ratfuckery, and I’m sure I’ll end being fine with the Democratic Governor of VA being forced to resign as well, even tho’ I strongly suspect GOP ratfuckery in this case as well. I am just tired of the other side being so GODDAMNED EVIL and amoral that in order to demonstrate that we are not, we have to turn on our own politicians and make an example of them, even if they are actually doing a good job, even if that’s exactly what our evil opponents want. Because we are the good guys and we play by the rules. I get it. It’s just that Democrats are usually the ONLY ones playing by the rules. Because the rules only apply to Democrats.
I’m just tired is all, and as a former Planned Parenthood worker and abortion advocate, I see the hands of anti-abortionists at work here. Maybe I shouldn’t, but I do.
Mnemosyne
@lamh36:
If Northam is one of the 3 people in that picture, he needs to resign.
If he is not actually in that picture and can prove that it’s not him, then I’m willing to listen to his explanation of how someone else’s photo was paired with his information.
rikyrah
@GOVCHRIS1988:
????
jacy
@A Ghost To Most:
I was living in Colorado Springs and in junior high in the timeframe of Blackkklansman (the movie), which was the mid-70s. It was very interesting to me to see something that was sort of a time-capsule of my adolescence. I hadn’t been aware of any Klan activity during my childhood, so I asked my mom (who was active in Civil Rights causes when I was growing up) and she was like, “Oh, yes. of course there were cross burning. Mostly the idiots from Fort Carson.” I was shocked that I had been so unaware of it. She said it so fucking casually! I think I must have been a very sheltered kid in some respects.
Daniel'sBob
He knew that photo existed and decided to run for office anyway, apparently assuming no one would ever ferret it out. Maybe his judgement hasn’t matured over the years.
Elizabelle
@SiubhanDuinne:
That was just a statement of fact.
Elizabelle
@eemom:
Agreed. Anti-abortion it is.
John Fremont
@Tim C.: Exactly!! As a person he may have changed and good for him. But as someone holding a public office in a democracy he’s lost the public trust and confidence that citizens put into elected officials. He can no longer perform the duties of the office effectively.
Ruckus
@ruemara:
Have always liked your style.
This was 34-35 yrs ago. And yes it was as stupid and wrong then as now.
So how has he been in elected office? Are his policies reasonable and democratic? What/How does his black LG think about this? I’ve seen people in college do stupid stuff, sometimes far worse than in HS. I do have to say that I went to an integrated HS and all of my college time was as well and I never saw anything like this, a few years before this. Not to say I didn’t see/hear any racism, there was no real shortage of that.
What I’m saying is I’m agreeing with ruemara, don’t throw out the marginal and possibly get shit back in the office, we don’t have that luxury in a lot of places.
Elizabelle
@ruemara:
Thank you ruemara. For seeing the bigger picture.
planetjanet
Northam is a genuinely good man. He is sincere about helping people. Sometimes people do stupid, ignorant stuff. Should they be condemned forever for it, no chance of redemption. What matters is how he reacts to this. Does he accept responsibility and humility? Does he try to make amends? That is what good people do.
Elizabelle
@planetjanet: Thank you. I see his sincerity too. I am just sick about all of this.
Brachiator
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think it’s a fair question. Call it zero tolerance if you like. What is your standard? Can you elaborate it? Does it apply to all political officers?
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@John Fremont:
QFT
PaulWartenberg
I posted comment on Silverman’s thread because I saw it first, but what I said there applies here:
There is a pervasiveness of racism across Southern culture that reaches every level from poor trailer parks to expensive colleges. There is a level of stupidity with fratboys when it comes to racism (and sexism) that requires constant ass-kicking to keep them in line. There is every likelihood every white person growing up in the South – and I will be honest here, I am on that list – has done something at this level of racism without even realizing – and again I am on that list, I have no idea what but I have to admit there is a lot of fckery between the sixth through twelfth grades I feel guilty about – what they’d done wrong (up to the point where they DO know, but by then they’d rather keep their shamed mouths shut).
This has got to stop. There needs to be a full cleansing of racist behavior from White Folk. Seriously. Just fucking stop it. You’re not winning anything other than Asshole of the Year awards.
lurker#3000
It’s not about winning. It’s about principles. It was straight up racist. Don’t care how arrogant he was in med school or how common it may be or whether it’s a one-time stupid how can we blame people for one thing. He KNEW about this and he KNEW what the current climate is about this kind of thing. If he has changed and he was gonna run for governor, why didn’t he fess up himself and make a full-throated apology BEFORE he put the Dem party in another no-win position. Why, if he has changed, did this not cross his mind whenever the GOP ran racist ads and ginned up the base with race baiting dog whistles? He is a politician–he knows better and should have looked at his past with new eyes and apologized publically BEFORE he ran for governor. Why does he get a break? In the days of Corey Stewart and Steve King, why should a Dem governor get slack? And the only argument I’m hearing are the same ones given for Kavanaugh: he’s changed, he’s made up for his past, etc. etc. Can’t have it two ways. If Northam gets a pass, then Kavanaugh gets a pass. For me, no passes. You own up to your past actions and take responsibility. Preferably before running for political office. Politicians should be held to a higher standard. The fact that the GOP are hypocrites as a party doesn’t mean Dems should embrace the same hypocrisy.
Not a bot or a fake Dem just a lurker, who is continually astonished by the people who are willing to give prominent Dems a pass when they’ll pillory the same behavior in GOP.
JustRuss
@Lyrebird: Not doubting you, just relating my experience. Heard the N-word more than I ever needed to, but never saw anyone in blackface. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, just not where I happened to be.
Lyrebird
@JustRuss: Thanks, totally respect your comment.
Didn’t see that either, but I was pretty young and did not get invited to many parties, so I don’t know what all went on. Heard lots of ugliness, usually in ordinary words, not slurs, but maybe that is because people would change their tune in front of a kid.
I still get surprised when white teens now want to be Eminem and such because of the way I heard people talking back then.
smintheus
@Daniel’sBob: And even beyond the fact that he was determined to run for office, he also chose not to do the more honorable and the democratic thing: admit publicly to having done this and apologize for it, so that voters could pass judgment on him with knowledge of his past. He apology rings hollow now after he tried to keep the public in the dark.