Monday, February 4, 2019

Northam Controversy by Maya Davis

Virginian governor, Ralph Northam’s college year book was uncovered and a picture of a white man in black face standing next to a man in a KKK robe was found on his page. At first, Northam apologized for the picture and then said that he would not be resigning... Later in a press conference, Northam said that it wasn’t him in the picture. He did however say that he did blackface as Michael Jackson and didn’t understand how offensive it was at the time, but has since learned that what he did wasn’t acceptable. Many democratic politicians have called for his resignation including Eric Holder and Joe Biden.

After reading this, I personally believe that Northam was in the picture.. If he wasn’t I feel that he was involved in getting the picture put on his page. I find it also very strange that Northam seemed to think he would get praise for admiting he has done blackface before. I don’t think someone who did this should be in a high place of power and I think it would be best for him to resign.. His actions can be compared to minstrel shows and how people thought of blackface as a source of entertainment and didn’t think about how it might negatively impact the black community and thoughts of how blackness is perceived.

Northam Article
Minstrel Shows

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