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Virginia residents weigh in on Ralph Northam racist photo controversy

Posted at 7:47 PM, Feb 04, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-04 19:47:25-05

James Lunsford said he voted for Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam based on the man he thought he was. But since a decades-old racist photograph on Northam’s medial school yearbook page surfaced, Lunsford is having second thoughts.

Lunsford, an 82-year-old Richmond resident, said he was shocked, disappointed and horrified when he saw the photo of a man in blackface and another man in Ku Klux Klan garb on the governor’s page in his 1984 yearbook. But Lunsford said he was willing to give Northam a chance.

“We are a forgiving people,” Lunsford, who is black, said Monday. “I think we should forgive him. As far as the politics is concerned, I don’t know whether he should resign or not.”

Northam faces calls to resign from top Democrats in Congress and virtually every elected Republican and Democratic leader in Virginia. But in Richmond and in Norfolk, where Northam attended Eastern Virginia Medical School, some residents were split on whether he should go, and how they feel about the racist images.

“He made a mistake. Everybody makes mistakes in life,” Mozelle Miller, who is African-American, said while sitting in a car in a parking lot in Richmond. “Just as long as he don’t make any more like that.”

Miller said if people were “offended by everything in this world … there would be no existence.” She was willing to “let it slide,” but said not everyone would let it go.

Northam should be allowed to stay in office as long as he can do his job “and just do right by everybody,” she said.

The governor has been under fire since the photo first surfaced on Friday. He initially apologized for the photo, saying it was him, without specifying which person he was. But on Saturday he said he wasn’t in the photograph.

“I was appalled that they appeared on my page, but I believe then and now that I am not either of the people in that photo,” he said Saturday.

He also admitted to appearing in blackface to dress up as Michael Jackson for a dance contest in San Antonio in 1984.

After the 1984 photo was released, another photo surfaced of Northam from his 1981 Virginia Military Institute college yearbook. Under the picture, it listed the racist slur “Coonman” — in quotes — as one of his nicknames.

Northam recalled that two people, who were a year ahead of him at Virginia Military Institute, “called me Coonman.”

“I don’t know their motives or intent. I know who they are. That was the extent of that, and it ended up in the yearbook. And I regret that,” Northam said Saturday.

‘He needs to hang it up’

Chinky Dolo, a Richmond resident, said he was offended by the photograph on Northam’s page. And he didn’t believe the governor’s second statement denying he appeared in the photo.

“That just seems iffy to me,” Dolo said.

Northam told his Cabinet on Monday the only way to clear his name was to remain in office and convince people he isn’t the person in the photograph and the image doesn’t represent who he is, said a source inside the regularly scheduled Cabinet meeting. If he resigns, the governor said he would be labeled as a “racist for life,” the source said.

Dolo said he was willing to hear what else the governor has to say, though he didn’t think it would affect his opinion. His mind was made up.

“I think he needs to resign,” Dolo said. “I think he needs to hang it up.”

Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, the man who would replace Northam, took a more diplomatic tone when asked whether Northam should resign. He said the governor “has to make the decision that is in the best interest of the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

“I believe that I’m in a unique position, obviously, as lieutenant governor, and someone who would have to assume that office in the event that he were to resign. And so, I have to be very circumspect. I have to think about the people of the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Fairfax said.

Stuart Saunders, a 65-year-old Richmond resident, said he didn’t vote for the governor. But Saunders said it wasn’t his call to say whether the governor should resign.

“I’m just a voter,” he said. He said he wants Northam to get back to the job of governing.

“He was in college, He was a stupid kid,” said Saunders, who is white. “Think of all the dumb things people do in college that follow them for the rest of their life. I just don’t think that should happen.”

‘I want him to be top-notch’

In Norfolk, Melissa Brooks was adamant that Northam should resign.

“He’s supposed to be ….the figure that we all look up to. And if he’s going to be my governor, then I want him to be top-notch,” said Brooks, who is white.

Brooks said she was worried Northam would have to expend too much time dealing with his current problem. She said she believes Virginia residents need his full attention, and he can’t give that to them right now.

David Wright, a grandfather of 13 and an Army veteran, said his barometer for Northam is whether the governor is doing a good job leading Virginia, and if the state is thriving.

When asked if Northam can still lead, the Norfolk resident questioned if Northam was now reflecting on how he treats African-Americans.

“I’m not gonna really grade the picture that much because I know … white people,” said Wright, who is African-American. “It’s not a new thing. It’s just everybody is coming out in the open.”

or full coverage on Gov. Northam’s yearbook photo controversy, click here.