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University of Richmond president issues statement on ‘repulsive’ racist yearbook photo

Posted at 4:42 PM, Feb 07, 2019
and last updated 2019-02-07 18:18:54-05

RICHMOND, Va. – Thursday, the president of the University of Richmond issued a statement on a racist photo that appeared in a 1980 yearbook.

President Ronald A. Crutcher said the image, which had been shared on social media is “repulsive” to those at the university and that “images of this sort, and the behavior and attitudes they represent, are appalling and antithetical to the values of the University today.”

Crutcher’s statement comes days after a racist photo appeared on a page in Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook from 1984. The photo showed one person in blackface and another appearing to be dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.

While Northam originally issued an apology confirming that he appears in the photo, he said during a press conference the next day that he did not believe it was him. He did admit to using shoe polish to darken his face when he dressed up as the late singer Michael Jackson for a dance competition.

Northam has said that he will not resign in the wake of the controversy.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring added to the state’s blackface controversy when he admitted this week that he wore “brown makeup” while he was in college in 1980. He said he was at a party where he and his friends dressed up as rappers they listened to, like Kurtis Blow.

Herring previously called for Northam to resign once the governor’s blackface photo surfaced.

On Thursday, it was revealed that Virginia Senator and Republican Majority Leader Tommy Norment is listed as the managing editor of the 1968 Virginia Military Institute yearbook called “The Bomb.” News 3 found photos with people wearing blackface and captions that are considered racial slurs.

Click here for more coverage on racist yearbook photo controversies.