If you have to answer whether you're the one in blackface or the one in KKK regalia, maybe ...

[EffieBlack]

Last edited Sat Feb 2, 2019, 02:09 AM - Edit history (1)

you shouldn't be Governor.

I understand all of the rationales being given for Northam not to resign - I've been grappling with this myself. I supported and campaigned for Northam and was thrilled when he won. And I don't think people should necessarily be punished forever for behavior or the past

But this is different. Northam never disclosed this, never made an effort to publicly atone for or rectify this behavior. If this hadn't come out today, he would not be talking about it and would have continued to keep this on the downlow.

Not only is this a moral issue, but it also makes me question his political judgment. Why did he not disclose this to his own campaign so that it could be dealt with? Why did he continue moving forward with this ticking time bomb in his past - one with easily documented proof - and leave himself open to having this blow up in his face? This suggests to me that he doesn't have the judgment or the basic common sense to hold this office.

I've been trying all afternoon and evening to give him the benefit of the doubt but this is a bridge too far.

He needs to go.

[JDC]

1. Your title really drills it down to its essence.

I was torn, but I have to say it is just not ok.

[UniteFightBack]

2. I think we should listen to what black folks want to happen. His apology blows and he's gotta go.nt

[irisblue]

3. +1

[underpants]

4. I agree

Wholeheartedly

[RandySF]

5. I also hope there are consequences

for the Republican official who essentially called a Vietnamese-American legislator a foreigner.

[EffieBlack]

15. That's a separate issue

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. K&R. This is what it comes down to for me, in a lot of these cases -- the lack of common sense.

I can't imagine knowing that this photo was out there, and just...not worrying about it or thinking it might be an issue at some point? It just looks like hubris, really.

And as someone who campaigned for Franken and met him several times, I understand your grappling. It's hard and so very frustrating.

[yardwork]

7. I tuned into this late today. I don't know much about Northam.

I do know that dressing up in minstrel blackface or klan regalia would have been considered incredibly racist - and disgustingly privileged and just plain ignorant - by anyone I knew in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Just dressing up that way showed a profound lack of judgment. Putting it on his yearbook page shows profound stupidity.

It's the same kind of smirking privilege we see in Brett Kavanaugh.

[Blue_true]

32. Or the MAGA kid on the National Mall.

I felt that Northam should stay, but am being convinced more that unless African Americans that have known him over 35 years rush forward to defend him, he is a goner.

Randy mentioned the republican that said basically racist stuff about a Vietnamese-American. Initially I was put off by her answer, but after turning it in my head some, Effie is right, it is a seperate issue. The Republican Party must deal with that individual. Our standard is that a person that showed gross racial insensitivity at an age when they should not have must go, even if they changed. The same goes for homophobia and sexism or ignoring sexual harrassment or violence when in a position to set a standard that such a thing will not happen, and if it does, the guilty party(ies) will pay.

[bitterross]

8. Are you people kidding me? It was 35 years ago in the South.

It was wrong, of course. But are you fucking kidding me? You want to dispose of a good person because they were stupid in their high school yearbook.

Do you not realize the fact that it made it into the year book in the first place says a hell of a lot about the environment in which he grew up.

Why don't you give the man some credit for changing and overcoming the racism and bigotry of the environment in which he grew up?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. Pretty sure there are plenty of people out there who were in med school 35 years ago in the south,

who grew up in that environment, who DIDN'T post stupid things in their med school yearbook and would have been great candidates.

[marked50]

16. and of course, everyone at that age never makes mistakes...

[WhiskeyGrinder]

31. Dressing in a racist costume is bigger than a mistake.

[marked50]

52. Error, misjudgement, foolishness, disparagement

Whatever term you want to use. Mistake is the simple one -with little judgment

[WhiskeyGrinder]

62. Dressing in a racist costume is racist.

[marked50]

67. My point has been made- Racism is determined by someones life - not by some indiscretion- judgments

on that basis are easy. I dressed as Hitler once but really don't think I am a Fascist or Anti-semite

[fountainofyouth]

13. At least get the facts right

It was his medical school yearbook and he was 25. For someone that age, as late as the 1980s, to feel comfortable putting this picture in a yearbook page that represents his life ... that's not great!

[EffieBlack]

18. It was 1984 in Virginia

We're not talking about 1935 in Alabama.

No excuse.

[bitterross]

22. I lived the 80s in the South

The yearbook is a reflection of how the environment was then. I'm not saying it was right. I'm just saying you seem awfully quick to rule out forgiveness and the possibility he's changed.

I'm not asking you to forgive his stupidity. I'm asking you to see the possibility he's different now.

[EffieBlack]

27. I think it's obvious he's very different now. And if he were the local store owner or truck driver

that would be enough.

But he's more than that. The people of Virginia put him in the highest office in the state. He owes them more than. To just be better than he was a a young man. he owes them disclosure and honesty. He failed them badly. No one is saying he should go to jail or be tarred and feathered.

He just shouldn't get to keep the job he was got under false pretenses.

[nitpicker]

81. +1

in 1977 in VA, the Democrats ran an old-line segregationist for Attorney General. A lot of people split their tickets and voted for Marshall Coleman.

This was the time period where IMO the southwestern end of "northern Virginia" ended at Fairfax City, but still this happened.

((By the early 1990, the southern end of "dividing line" had switched to the Occoquan, and voters in the Woodbridge area were represented by moderate Rs. Now, it can be argued the line is pushing towards the Rappahannock. Out west, Wexton got elected.))

[nitpicker]

82. If you are the lead story on the BBC News at 3 am

Not just the headlines, but the first featured story-

You may be in trouble.

This even beat out the INF mess for top billing.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. Are you from the south?

I grew up in the south. I was in junior high school in 1970 when Volusia County, Florida schools were being desegregated pursuant to a court order. All my teachers to a one taught us prejudice was wrong.

By 1984 everybody knew black face was fucked up.

[bitterross]

24. Yes, I am from the South.

All my teachers taught us prejudice was wrong too. That didn't mean all the racist people automatically stopped being racist. In fact, my class was the first class to be de-segregated in my school district. If anything, that made the racists even more racist.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. I was a grad student at FSU in 1984

I assure you there was nobody in black face in that yearbook. That was the year of Jesse Jackson's historic run for president and Doug Wilder's run for lieutenant governor.

I actually think the black face is worse than the Klan regalia. What hate one must have for black people to think they look like that.

[rusty quoin]

78. I was in the military around that time, and something like that would never have been accepted.

There were lots of southerners there of course, and that kind of thing didn’t happen, at least in the open.

I don’t know why the school let him do it. I also think it was just plain dumb of him not to put it out there before running. I’m not sure whether or not he has evolved. But it’s now too late for him.

[rusty fender]

38. It wasn't just a stupid thing he did,

it was a racist, disgusting abominable thing he did. The guy has got to go

[whopis01]

84. It was not a "High School Yearbook"

He was not a high school student at the time.

He graduated from high school.

He went to college and graduated from college.

After graduating college he went to medical school.

This was done during his final year in medical school. The same year he entered the Army as an officer.

Quit pushing the lie that this was a “high school yearbook”.

[Dave in VA]

9. I Agree

Dr. Northam must realize that he is no longer in a position to lead the commonwealth of Virginia, but he must go and allow Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax to lead.

[marked50]

11. If I looked at my past and had to explain or apologize for the things that I had done that may have

not been appropriate or wise I would be spending my entire life doing nothing of value to anything except my epitath.

[EffieBlack]

23. If you posed in blackface or as a Klansman as an adult, and then decided to run for governor

You would have the common sense, not to mention the common decency, to make sure you publicly acknowledged it, addressed it and, yes APOLOGIZED AND for it before you jumped out into the race.

[marked50]

34. Have you apologized for all your transgressions to everyone you have transgressed, regardless of

politics? Do you know what those may have been when they happened? Have you realized them and made changes in your life to make amends? Where are your errors that could be exposed to condemn you in the future? As I have posted, what do you think Martin Luther King, Jr would say about this?

[EffieBlack]

35. If I had engaged in and proudly displayed hateful racist behavior and THEN decided to run for office

you're damned right I would apologize for it.

[marked50]

39. And he has, it appears.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

47. After he got caught.

[marked50]

55. And all anyone needs to do is judge his sincerity

[DemocratSinceBirth]

58. If he was sincere he would let the people of VA know of his behavior before running for office.

It was a reckless act.

[marked50]

64. Are we now required to hold all our Democrats to a Sainthood that I doubt most of us could achieve?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

66. No. We can just expect them not to mock the pain black people feel.

[marked50]

68. I would agree if he continued(s) to mock black people

[DemocratSinceBirth]

70. He couldn't do it openly or he would have been kicked out of the military and medicine.

[still_one]

36. Why would anybody pose in "blackface" or as a "Klansman" in the first place. Civil Rights isn't a

joke. Too many people have fought and died for it.

[marked50]

59. Personal redemption on these things comes from many pathways

[MadDAsHell]

74. That's the world in 2019, whether you like it or not.

Either you were perfect until this point, or you weren't and u fked.

He weren't. He gone.

[LanternWaste]

85. Much is the reason you'll never be elected to any Dem position beyond the municipal

Not everyone spent their youth being an idiot, and thus can better and more efficiently focus on the here and now.

(is "may have not been appropriate or wise" the hip and trendy way of saying 'idiot' these days?)

[njhoneybadger]

12. It looks like we need to vet our candidates a little better.

I just can't imagine him thinking this would never come out.

[marked50]

29. When I was young

I had a part in a play where I was an African American servant. I said that I was a "n" word to my father in giving him a description of that part. This was a term that I had from my peers. My father set me straight. And I have never used that term again , I think at that time I realized what it really meant. Now why would I want to think that someone else may come to that realization, regardless of their age, and not change their view or beliefs. I would not think that what I had done in the past should be a determinate of what I have since demonstrated and what I am capable of in the future.

[njhoneybadger]

53. I happen to agree with you

[marked50]

61. Thank you

[still_one]

57. Age is very relevent. This happened in the 80's. The country had gone through the Civil Rights

Movement, where churches were bombed, and people died.

]
The fact that he was making a racist "joke" with that photo is not because he was naïve at the time. He was an adult going to Medical School. That he was a doctor makes this even worse in some respects

A doctor was recently fired from the Cleveland Clinic after her anti-Semitic social tweets.

It is way past that people need realize there are consequences for one's actions


In the end it will be the people of Virgina that determine what happens, and no doubt they will let their feeling be known

[DemocratSinceBirth]

50. What if this came out on the eve of his gubernatorial election?

[roscoeroscoe]

79. Exactly

He's stupid to think he should have run. Arrogant? White privileged? Anyway, dumb.

This guy can't be effective going forward, he's a walking punch line. He should face facts. Give it up gracefully.

[sheshe2]

14. Not a good look.

Not a good look at all. This, as some are saying, is not Democrats eating their own, it about right and wrong. Racism and sexism should never be a part of our party. Whether they put on black face or perhaps wrote an essay about rape, this is not who we are.

To compare this to Franken, as some posts have, is wrong, as was his ousting in my opinion. He should have stayed and fought the bogus accusations.

[angrychair]

17. I agree

He has a solid Lt Governor that can and will do an excellent job.

[DinahMoeHum]

28. Yes, fortunately, Lt Gov Justin Fairfax is a bonafide progressive.

Justin E. Fairfax and family:

[angrychair]

30. [phone]. N/T

[deurbano]

43. The children look exactly like younger versions of their parents.

[stopwastingmymoney]

77. They really do

Such a cute family

[deurbano]

80. They really are!

[madaboutharry]

20. This is a very excellent analysis, EffieBlack.

Thank you for your post.

I agree with how you discussed this as a moral issue and demonstrates poor judgment.

[akraven]

21. They couldn't have forced me into either when I was 8.

Now I'm 64, and they'd have a much harder time forcing me.

This isn't "youthful hijinks" it's straight out racism.

[Jarqui]

25. As I've posted before

We were fighting racism in grade school in 1964

He was 15 years older, twenty years later.

In 1984, he was published in those KKK photos in his medical yearbook

In 1981, he was published with the nickname "Coonman" in his Virginia Military yearbook

"Coonman" needs to resign. We cannot tolerate a stain like this on leadership when racism continues to hurt so many in the country. Virginia deserves better and they should be supported. What Republicans do is not a model for our behavior. We're better than this.

[Amaryllis]

33. Your point about his judgement just tipped me. Did he not think it would be found?

Did he not think it would be that important if it were found? Or did he just not think of it at all until it was posted because it didn't make enough of an impression on him that he even remembered it? Whichever, it indicates poor judgment and lack of common sense; both necessary to be an effective leader.

[gay texan]

37. I'm sorry

As much of a hardcore diehard liberal I am, I cant accept this. As one who believes that a person can redeem themselves of past transgressions, it requires you to be upfront about your past mistakes. You cant run from them, you have to face them head on.

The fact that this was lying in wait, and now published tells me that he knew it was going to surface sooner or later.

I hate that its come to this. I believe he is sincere in his apology, but in these times where we are under intense scrutiny and pressure, we must be rid of baggage.

[Amaryllis]

40. Perhaps he didnt even think about it until it surfaced, which in itself is problematic.

[gay texan]

41. I agree with your assessment n/t

[Dem2theMax]

45. I couldn't have said it better myself.

So I will say ditto.

[littlemissmartypants]

42. The word that keeps coming into my mind is hubris.

He's just too confident. The same confidence that got him through med school, that gave him the confidence to run for office, that same confidence that allowed him to believe that the rules of privilege would excuse his racist behavior, hubris, held his hand and walked him across a bridge too far.

If he had recognized his racist behavior in med school as wrong, maybe he would have issued a preemptive apology for unacceptable immature, racist, past behavior before running for office, but he didn't.

He crossed the line into hubris and didn't see the error or a need for apology.

I know everything about him I need to know.

It's a shame that he never seems to have had the self awareness to recognize that hubris was his enemy. He brought himself down like a player in a tragic drama by his own design.

He failed us and he failed himself. Perhaps without hubris and with better friends he may have had a chance to change his ways and right his racist wrongs.

But now it's too late.

[iluvtennis]

44. well said.

[Anon-C]

46. Extremely well put!

Kick and recommended!

[Generic Brad]

48. I recognize that social mores change over the decades

But that was still considered racist and unacceptable in 1984.

[pnwmom]

49. Damn right. He could have brought it forward years ago, like Beto O'Rourke did with his

college transgressions. (I bet lots of people can't even remember what O'Rourke's confessed to, because he was able to get it out and put it behind him.)

I lived in Virginia in that time period, so I know that behavior cannot be excused by the locale or by the era. This wasn't 1950 Mississippi. This was 1984 in a medical school in Virginia -- and these future doctors were smart enough to KNOW this was wrong.

[world wide wally]

51. How did that Al Franken resignation work out for us?

[EffieBlack]

56. Ralph Northam isn't Al Franken

This is not the same. Try not to get it twisted.

[world wide wally]

60. But it is 35 years ago... People grow up

Sometimes.

[Codeine]

72. He was already grown up.

It’s not like this happened when he was a spotty teenager, he was finishing up fucking medical school. He was a grown-ass man, and an intelligent one, in the 1980s. I will hold him to an adult standard.

And it’s not like this was just some random bit of dumb-shittery — it required effort and planning and costumes and makeup. That bespeaks some fucked-up mental workings.

[world wide wally]

73. Definitely a fucked up thing to do.... No argument there

I don't know much about his history for the past 30 years and I'm just hoping for the best.

[Tarc]

76. It worked out quite well, since it was justified

People are accountable for their own actions.

Anything else?

[Hoyt]

54. From the South. I think most people, especially someone with a college education, knew what was

right or wrong by 25 years of age with respect to offensive behavior like this. In high school, they’re still swayed their parents to a large extent. I’d give them a break. But this ain’t high school.

Northam could of handled this long ago by just saying he went to a southern military school and made some mistakes in that toxic environment, but he’s committed to what’s right now and his record proved it.

[Lisa0825]

63. I would hope people would forgive me for making/laughing at racist jokes 35 years ago, but

... dressing in blackface or a Klan costume is on another level, not to mention his racist nickname.

I would be slamming him were he a Republican, so I can't give him a pass just because he's a Democrat.

[EffieBlack]

65. Thank you

Not to mention never mentioning it.

[EffieBlack]

69. Good questions from Chris Hayes and Soledad O'Brien

Link to tweet

[WeekiWater]

71. I have a question about standards.

First, I want to say I appreciate how you point out that it would probably be different for you if he came out with this earlier in his career and made his apology. That’s what makes the stretch a bit too far for me.

Now to my question on standards. How does a man who was confronted well into his political career, after an essay he wrote surfaced that clearly outlines a woman’s yearning to be raped(and men masturbating to the thought of rape), move on to get millions of votes in a Presidential primary and get re-elected for his senate seat? Don’t forget, said person even endorsed Northman’s opponent in the primary.

I haven’t posted much about this. I appreciate your insight. Here is one of my few comments on the matter.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11761156

[Tarc]

75. We don't need Dixiecrats in the party, that should have died out ages ago

Toss his ass out.

[Captain Stern]

83. Nobody likes to be wrong, and nobody likes to lose.

I agree with you.

I've heard most of the reasons that people have given for giving Northam a pass on this, and I've even tried to come up with some of my own. It's just not working for me.

To be honest, I'd have loved for that picture to be one of a sitting republican governor. But it's not. It's one of somebody on our team.

I don't necessarily think someone should be punished forever for their past behavior either, but I definitely don't think other people should be punished for somebody else's past behavior. And punishing ourselves is exactly what we would be doing by going to the wall for this guy. The republicans would get a lot of mileage out of that.

I believe Northam is not the same man today that he was when that picture was taken. I think his apology was sincere. I think that he's probably a good man today. But, sometimes you just have to cut a guy loose..even if he's a good man.