It is goddamned disgusting that some here want to force African Americans in Virginia to be represented by this asshole. This fucking asshole is so goddamned clueless he considered moonwalking at his apology press conference.

He ONLY won the seat because African Americans turned out and voted for him.

Northam needs to GO!

Poor guy didn't know it was offensive to wear blackface to represent Michael Jackson. If for no other reason, he should resign because he's so goddam stupid.

Such vitriol because blackface was used in 1984 by a future Progressive. We make mistakes. Those of us who make mistakes and manage to realize them are painted with the broad brush of “forever punishment”. What is wrong with a governor who has changed?

Exactly when was it that he called a press conference. in part to apologize for donning blackface, and considered performing the Moon Walk as a bit of light humor while being asked about his blackface performance?

When was that again?

And post the number here so we can see just how disgusting many on this site have been on this issue. DU needs to have its nose rubbed in it.

Blackface photo on his yearbook page.

Classmates dubbed him "Coonman."

Admitted to wearing blackface for a dance competition.

If there was just one incident, maybe. This looks like a patttern.

. . . But there is zero evidence that he holds views that even remotely resemble the worst of what might be inferred from the photo.

Is there never any allowance to be made for youthful stupidity or indiscretion, no consideration to be given to a lifetime of otherwise exemplary public service?

If we are really going to insist on this kind of purity test for our political leaders -- i.e., that they must never, ever have done anything regrettable or untoward at any time in their lives -- then the pool of available leaders is going to become vanishingly small very quickly.

Do we really want to live in a society in which people are forever shackled to the stupidest, most thoughtless thing they have ever done? I certainly don't!

Really, It's not like he did this at 17. He was a med student at the time. I was studying the Civil Rights Act at that age preparing to become a lawyer. At what point in someones life is this no longer acceptable?

. . . Is there ever any consideration to be given to the fact that people do, in fact, grow and change? I am just two years younger than Gov. Northam, and I can tell you I am certainly not the man at 25 that I am at 57. At what point do we allow people to move beyond their worst moments and actions? Or are we all to be forever shackled to the very worst things we have done, with no consideration given to the people we have become since then?

This is puritanical moralism under another banner, and I am stunned that more of my fellow Democrats seem unable to recognize it for what it is.

Oh, and we should remember that Breitbart has now come out with a sexual abuse allegation against the Lt. Governor ,. almost as if on cue . . .

mouth, just a bunch of conflicting things, I went to college in the South. I knew people that would do things like that and that and they acted out of a deep sense of superiority. Change from that takes some kind of significant event or experience, not just I can't do that anymore if I want to go into politics. I have heard nothing convincing from Northam.

It is not really just about Northam anyway. It is about the Party not being hypocritical. So maybe all those guys marching in Charlottesville deserve another chance and there really were many fine people? Every time the Republicans do something racist, they will "what about" Northam. I am sorry, you really do have to be special to take a title like Governor.

First, I'm Northam's age and lived in Virginia and I can tell you that people there didn't go around impersonating Michael Jackson while wearing shoe polish blackface - at least not in public.

Furthermore, even if it was occurring in private, there's a world of difference between "growing up in a time" when people did racist things and being one of the people who did the racist things.

What a inane post.

Do you think that anyone who wore blackface for a MJ impersonation in 1985 is irredeemably racist for their entire lives?

But they have to redeem themselves in order to be redeemed and that requires more than saying "Oops. I shouldn't have done that. Well, actually, I didn't do anything wrong. Anyway. Let's move on."

Even Northam admits he has a lot of work to do moving forward to atone for his conduct. I say let him begin. The first step is to resign his seat and and focus on doing that work.

...the picture still appeared on his page.

Fuck him, he's got to go...

... as racist, there is always a reasonable answer to why it shouldn't matter.
I was young.
It was just a joke.
I have black friends.
You don't know what was in their heart and minds.

There is a distinction between being a racist and normalizing racist behavior. You can normalize racism without being a racist or desiring racist outcomes. Most of those in the majority don't understand what those being targeted by such behavior feel and or live through on a daily basis.

Many white Americans voted for Trump because they are afraid of not being in the majority. They may not be racist but they normalize racism by their votes. Change is scary to some, and it's hard to change thoughts and opinions you've held since you were a little child. That is why we still have redskins used in sports teams at the high school and professional level.

As Democrats we need to stand up for our beliefs. We need to be open to change, and we need to view this through the eyes of those who have been living this since the founding of our country. Fear of repercussions shouldn't matter more than doing the right thing.

This would be a great OP.

I considered making an OP but figured it would get lost in the noise.

I'd call it Herculean, but maybe more Popeye-like strength!

Go for it.

. . . I think what folks are saying we are crucifying a man over a photograph that was indeed racist but seem to be giving no consideration to the fact that this man has otherwise led an exemplary life of public service, and nothing in his public record suggests or even hints that Governor Northam today holds views consistent with the worst of what may be inferred from the photograph in question.

people at the time, right here on DU (not the majority, certainly, but they were here), claiming THAT wasn't racism. So, yeah, there's always an excuse.

And is known by "Coonman?"

If he's lying, like I said, then yeah he should resign. My question is what if he's not lying.

As I said in another thread, Northam must be the unluckiest guy on the planet.

I don't know how it got there but, yeah, I can imagine yearbook editors making mistakes. If he's not in the photo, it lends credence to the claim that he didn't put it there because you'd think he would pick a picture that included him for his yearbook instead of one of two other people.

You'd also think that if he didn't select or at least approve of that picture, he'd have objected to it at the time and wouldn't 35 years later say that it was a photo of him before he said it wasn't.

Again, if he's lying about it, then yeah he should resign.

Come on, Dan. You surely don't believe that.

He knew about the picture. And not only because he's IN it, as he himself admitted.

Of course, I don't know for sure either way, which is why this op is predicated on an "if". But yeah, it seems that's what happened.

From what I've read, it seems very likely that he's not either of the guys in the picture, based on another picture of one of the guys in the same clothes. Yeah, he could still have picked the picture, but its a bit unusual to pick a photo that doesn't include yourself there. Sure that's possible. But an editing error is also possible.

You're right, you'd think someone would have found it and told him. But maybe not, for any number of reasons. Even more than that, you'd think someone doing oppo research at any time during any campaign of his would have found it. But that didn't happen either.

It should be possible with some investigation to figure out whether there actually was a yearbook editing mixup that year.

If I'm ever charged with a crime, I sure hope I have people like you on my jury.

You keep skipping over the part where he admitted he was in the picture. Why did he say that if it wasn't him or if he didn't have reason to think it was him?

Yeah, he did admit that it was him, and yet there is, is in, fact another picture of a guy in the same clothes and with the same haircut as the blackface guy in the picture, which is pretty strong evidence that it wasn't him -- and the hooded guy is shorter, whereas Northam was taller. It was posted by gatewaypundit, a right-wing source, you can google it if you want.

If you're looking for a crime/jury analogy, this would be a false confession which happens all the time. He panicked and thought the most politically expedient thing to do was offer a confession.

That's why hardly anyone believes it.

You think the governor is such an idiot that he would "panic" and admit to being in a racist photo he wasn't in? If he's that clueless, he's too weak and stupid to be governor. Talk about someone open to being compromised ...

If someone showed you a picture of a man in blackface and a Klansman and asked if one of them was you, would you, under any circumstances, panic and say yes?

It's a spot-on match for the guy in the photo. I disagree with your claim that "hardly anyone believes it", and if that other photo is not doctored, then as more people see it more people will believe Northam.

No, I wouldn't panic and say yes, but I've never seen anyone in blackface or done a blackface MJ impersonation, that whole thing is totally foreign to me. I've also never faced the pressure of having to quickly come up with a response to a breaking scandal like this. I have said plenty of offensive things when I was college-aged, as did just about everyone I knew. I particularly cringe when I think about the homophobic language that was common back then, particularly on sports teams. Like I said in the OP, I shudder to think of what will happen once this new generation of young people that spends their early 20s surrounded by recording devices and cameras starts running for office.

Northam said it was him. That's because it either was him or he knew it was possible it was him. And the only reason he could think it was him was if he had actually dressed that way himself. And if his explanation is that he dressed that to impersonate Michael Jackson, that is problematic because the only way to dress like that to "impersonate" Michael Jackson was to racially mock Michael Jackson by IMPERSONATING HIM IN BLACKFACE.

So, just stop. Your continued excuses are ridiculous.

he is lying, can you?

We certainly don't have any proof that he's lying. Sure, it's possible, it just doesn't seem likely based on the photos that have emerged.

. . . the calls for his resignation occurred after he did attempt to take responsibility and issued what I believe was a sincere apology. And for that, people were demanding his resignation. Hell, if I had been in his shoes, I'd probably be feeling mighty cynical about the value of truth-telling and accountability!

he should have told this truth before it came out as a big ole surprise. It is true the apology he gave had as solid a wording as possible, but due to the circumstances it is still a case of I'm sorry I got caught.

You're gonna have bubblegum all over your face any minute.

. . .. nobody ever asked me to "choose" them or even consent to their inclusion. And that is pretty typical of the way yearbooks are produced.

AS for the "coonman" nickname, people rarely choose the nicknames their peers give them, and in an academic setting, it is not at all unusual for a nickname like this to arise from a single, notorious incident.

In high school, a friend one daay began calling me "Monk." I can't even tell you why or what prompted it. Others thought it was funny, and it stuck with me. I hated every minute of it. So I think we are in dangerous waters when we read too much into a nickname that he himself likely didn't choose.

Did you pose for any pictures while wearing blackface and standing next to a guy dressed up like a Klansman?

I was responding to eShirl's post, which asked, "Who even selects a photo like that for their college yearbook?" My point is that when it comes to candid shots that appear in yearbooks, people are often not consulted about whether their photos are included (or at least, they often weren't in the early 80s).

if he was lying when he admitted it was him. I'm thinking I believed "Coonman" when he told me who he was the first time. It speaks to massive incompetence if he was completely blind sided by this. The I never looked at my yearbook is paper thin, but even if we accept it until he ran for Governor are we to believe no one thought to look at his yearbooks for just this kind of thing?

"Hey, Coonman. Did you know that somebody put a picture of a guy in blackface and a Klansman on your yearbook page?"

Most people are entitled to the benefit of the doubt. But to believe this requires far more than a benefit of the doubt. You have to be willfully blind, clueless, or complicit to buy that story.

One trifling politician verses 20,000,000 African American votes. I think I will take the latter.

His apology undermines his position. would be reserving judgment right now if he had not apologized.
I think I would remember wearing blackface at any point in my life.

I'm thinking that it wont be able to identify someone in blackface as Northam even if it was him. Then he will be able to say that proves it wasn't him.

I'd like to see facial recognition software ID that person. That could be him.

He needs to step down already and get it over with.

Lets disregard the betrayal many be feeling - Since we are now like Republicans and see things only as winning and losing-

How does he help the party? Its an election year in VA
Gen Election next year.

How does " apologizing and staying" help the party?


Is anyone really buying that he did not know that page existed? So not only did he not look at his yearbook, none of his family members or friends did either? I got 2 bridges to sell anyone that believes that.

Hell, I don't know if my college class even had a yearbook, let alone if there might be a candid shot of me somewhere in it. Lot's of people never bother to buy yearbooks.

As he ascended, no one in his circles knew of the pic?
No one? This right wing outfit is the first to discover it,?

. . . it is unlikely any of them would ever have had reason to see it.

. . . what occasion would they h ave had to see it? This whole line of argument assumes that people in greduate professional schools typically buy, or are even interested in, yearbooks. Uearbppls. ot see,s tp ,e. are om ,pst casesmore of a high school thing.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211770822

*********QUOTE*****

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/02/northam-yearbook-photo-was-unearthed-by-outlet-associated-with-white-nationalists/

Big League Politics was founded in 2017 by a group of former Breitbart Newsstaffers, who decided that the nationalist media outlet previously run by Steve Bannon had gotten too mainstream. BLP started as the media arm of a pro-Trump, “populist nationalist” political action committee, which bills itself as the “attack dogs” for the American First Agenda. The site is now owned by North Carolina political consultant Reilly O’Neal, who worked for Roy Moore, the Alabama Senate candidate whose run was derailed by child molestation charges, and Corey Stewart, a Republican from Virginia popular with white supremacists for his support of Confederate monuments. Last year, Stewart unsuccessfully challenged Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), and the site covered his race extensively.

The man who first posted the Northam yearbook photo is BLP editor-in-chief Patrick Howley, a former reporter and provocateur for Breitbart and Tucker Carlson’s Daily Caller. Howley has made news in the past, but for more (sic) ignoble reasons. In 2014, he and Carlson were forced to apologize to reporter Rosie Gray, then at BuzzFeed, after Howley tweeted a pair of gross, sexist comments about her. Breitbart also suspended Howley in 2016 after he publicly questioned whether one of his co-workers had lied when she said she’d been manhandled by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski at a press event.



https://www.foxnews.com/politics/virginia-lt-gov-fairfax-denies-sexual-assault-allegation-amid-political-storm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20foxnews%2Fpolitics%20%28Internal%20-%20Politics%20-%20Text%29

The allegation was first posted by Big League Politics, the same political blog that published the now-infamous yearbook photo showing someone in blackface and someone in a KKK costume, from Northam's 1984 yearbook page. ,,,,

The blog, in the post that prompted Fairfax's denial, claimed that a fellow at Stanford University said a man sexually assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Mass.

“Imagine you were sexually assaulted during the DNC Convention in Boston in 2004 by a campaign staffer. You spend the next 13 years trying to forget it ever happened. Until one day you find out he’s the Democratic candidate for statewide office in a state some 3000 miles away, and he wins that election in November 2017,” a post from the reported accuser said, according to the blog. “Then, by strange, horrible luck, it seems increasingly likely that he’ll get a VERY BIG promotion.” ….

“The (Washington) Post carefully investigated the claim for several months,” Fairfax’s office said in a statement. “After being presented with facts consistent with the Lt. Governor’s denial of the allegation, the absence of any evidence corroborating the allegation, and significant red flags and inconsistencies within the allegation, the Post made the considered decision not to publish the story.” ....

*********UNQUOTE********

If we want to hold Republicans to a standard, we have to hold ourselves to the same one. Sorry, this guy is guilty!

... and forever shackling people to their worst mistaskes in life.

If you want to run as a Republican it doesn't matter. If you want to run as a democrat, it matters. Plus I don't believe he has changed since he back tracked as soon as he said he did it and asked for forgiveness.

But if that standard is to be one that says no politician may ever have said or done anything regrettable or untoward at any point in his or her life, the pool of available candidates is apt to become vanishingly small very quickly.

People grow; people change. And thankfully, most of the time, they grow up. Forever shackling people to the stupidest, most thoughtless thing they may ever have done, especially when they have led lives that have otherwise been ones of exemplary service, isn't upholding a standard. It is simply moralism under another banner, no different in kind from the kind of glib moralism that says that people who were once convicted of a crime should never again be permitted to vote. That so many of my fellow Democrats are on board with this is something I find appalling.

If I were running for office I would look at my background and make sure nothing was there that would come up again. Don't tell me he doesn't remember, he was hoping nobody found out.

... Are you eager for people, to remember the worst things you have ever done?

You didn't want your folks to hear about it at church or in the coffee shop. I NEVER would have done anything like this. This is beyond normal adolescent behavior. This is racist behavior, then and now. Maybe in the south it was normal, but not where I came from.

If not, congratulations -- you have been the first person in human history to have reached moral perfection. Most of the rest of us mere mortals aren't quite there yet.

He has lost the faith of leadership and the voters and consequently can not lead:


https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211771982


We are well past tales of forgiveness and redemption.

. . . a privilege that Governor Northam, notwithstanding the regrettable photo, has more than lived up to over the course of his entire life.

Whether or not he is a good or bad guy is no longer of consequence. He has lost the confidence of the leaders and led. If this was a parliamentary system he would have resigned as soon as the story broke.

last week why would we think there are no others?

. . . Wow, now that's a new one in an American context!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211771982

Everything else is commentary.

Again, if he's lying, then yeah he should resign.

If he is not in the picture why would he have apologized for having been in it? You can say it’s because he “forgot.” Which means what? Before he said that, he wasn’t sure if he was the racist in blackface or the racist in klan gear. What does that mean?

If he was not in this particular yearbook picture, this man took part in these types of acts often enough that he reasonably believed this was something he did. When he decided that he wasn’t in this particular picture, he followed up with saying that he had used blackface for laughs at a dance competition. This is absolutely ludicrous.

1985 was not so backwards a time that people were not aware that blackface was/is racist. There was literally never a time that wearing KKK stuff was anything but threatening, racist, and sympathetic towards genocide.

His nickname was “coonman.”

Why on earth are you trying to defend this?

I feel like his defenders are basically saying “but, if we can’t elect those who have worn blackface or klan uniforms, who will be left to elect?” This man isn’t being stoned to death, he has been asked to show his integrity.

If people see themselves in a 25 year old wearing blackface and they want to forgive themselves that violence, that is between them and their own soul. No one needs to or should be defending a politician who can’t even remember if he is the guy in the klan suit, blackface, or if he is confusing it with some other point in time that he wore blackface.

See his HUGE decline in approval.

I've posted against a knee jerk outrage that asks a person to resign based on a 35 year old bad (egregiously bad) act. But I don't want us to get into the business of defending it. His first reaction, an apology, tells us that he thought it could have been him. His subsequent story about MJ if ridiculous. MJ was known for bleaching his complexion.

I never saw Michael Jackson in clothing like that standing next to a Klansman.

Northam said it was him in the photo. So you really should stop saying "If it's not him." You've been contradicted by the man himself.

Northam also acknowledged that he had much work to do to repair the damage his conduct (i.e., appearing in that photo) caused and that his FIRST STEP was to apologize. Clearly, even HE doesn't believe that he redeemed himself over the past 35 years - otherwise, he wouldn't be talking about taking a first step last Friday.

It's bad enough that people are falling all over themselves defending this guy. But even worse is the fact that people are going farther than he did in their denials and defenses (at least farther than he went before he realized there's a pocket of people out here willing to ignore the obvious in order to defend him).

It would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Also, more photographic evidence has been found indicating that it is not in fact him in the pictures.

That's why I said "if".