Virginia leaders engulfed in race misconduct scandals

The state of Virginia has been engulfed by political crisis for the past few months as the state’s three leading Democrats were accused of race and sexual misconducts. 

Governor Ralph Northam was the first to confess to wearing blackface in medical school. A racist photo from Northam’s medical school yearbook page was made public on Friday by a conservative media website, showing a man in blackface standing beside a masked individual dressed in the hooded robe of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan. In Northam’s response to the picture, he admitted he had painted his face with shoe polish during an ill-conceived Michael Jackson impersonation.

Shortly after the incident, the man in line succeed Northam was accused of sexual assault, and the man third in line admitted that he, too, had worn blackface as a teenager. 

Despite facing calls to resign from almost the entire Democratic Party in Virginia and many prominent black public figures, Northam has continued to cling to power while reducing his number of public appearances.

“The governor really faces a difficult choice. The choice initially was resigning with some modicum of dignity and resigning in full disgrace. At this point he is moving toward the latter option,” said Cornell Brooks, a Virginia-based professor at the Harvard Kennedy School who has also served as the president of the NAACP.

“Having offered up a series of evolving apologies and explanations for what he did 35 years ago he has undermined the credibility of the office of governor and his own ability as a chief exec in Virginia to govern.”

Since the scandal, the governor has apologized, noting: “In the place and time where I grew up, many actions we rightfully recognize as abhorrent today were commonplace.” Northam also stated that his actions then do not reflect his attitude, his views or his policies now or at any time throughout his military, medical and public career.

While it is true that Northam has a positive record of advocating to take down the Confederate statues in Virginia amidst Charlottesville protests, and advancing voting rights in his state, it will be impossible for Northam to lead the state of Virginia after this revelation. His past actions have shattered his support from even his own political party.  

In early February, the widening scandal has touched on Virginia’s Republican senate majority leader Tommy Norment, who had edited a college yearbook containing racist insults and blackface images. The 1968 yearbook of the Virginia Military Institute, with Norment serving as managing editor, also featured racial slurs targeting African Americans, Jews, and Asians. 

Featured image- Governor Northam refuses to resign Courtesy of AP