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- Apr 20, 2018
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Part I of II
Ralph is a VA state-level official, not a federal one; thus I lack portfolio to have a normative stance re: his resigning. I neither live in nor own property in VA.
Thoughts re: whether Northam is/isn't one of the two persons in the image:
(cont'd due to character limit)
Ralph is a VA state-level official, not a federal one; thus I lack portfolio to have a normative stance re: his resigning. I neither live in nor own property in VA.
Thoughts re: whether Northam is/isn't one of the two persons in the image:
- Northam's handling of the matter:
- Day 1:
- Northam said he is one of the persons shown in the image, but curiously he didn't indicate which be him.
- That struck me as an odd statement then and, though on "day 2" he recanted that claim with a plausible explanation, his having made it remains odd. (see "Day 2" below)
- Northam expressed contrition for donning the costume in the photo, and his apology is for the right things.
"I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now. That photo and the racist and offensive attitudes it represents does not reflect the person I am today or the way that I conducted myself as a soldier, a doctor and a public servant. I am deeply sorry. I am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust."- I judge apologies by whether they indicate the "sinner" understands the the nature of his/her transgression(s) and how it affects the slighted parties.
- Northam said he is one of the persons shown in the image, but curiously he didn't indicate which be him.
- Day 2:
- Northam said his is not one of the persons in the image, explaining that on "day 1," he "owned" the photo's appearance on his yearbook page based on reasonable inference -- it's his page in the yearbook and the picture is there -- and the "day 1" crush of demands for a response. He also stated that unlike the other images on that page, the blackface/KKK one isn't an image he submitted. Northam posited that the picture's presence results from an editorial error the 1984 yearbook production team made.
- Well, his explanation is plausible, and elements of it are somewhat verifiable. I'll await feedback from unrelated parties who can speak to his remarks.
- Coming after Northam's statement that he's one of the people in the image, his denial asks much of folks who have no personal relationship with him. His explanation would, for me, be more palatable had he yesterday given as his reasons for "owning" the image the rationale he today shared.
- Northam volunteered that in 1984 entered a dance contest dressed as Michael Jackson and in doing so, he'd applied dark shoe polish to his face. Northam stated he didn't understand the opprobrium of doing so and he said his comprehension of the implications and insult of his having done so has at some point in the apparently distant past, changed. He said appearing in dark face paint was something of which he didn't know better than to do then, and that he's come to realize that doing so showed tacit approval for perpetuating racist tropes, and for that reason his doing so was wrong.
- I sense that Northam understands what's wrong with blackface. That's more than I can say for a lot of white folks.
- Northam "owned" his 1984 ignorance re: blackface. That's as it should be.
- A question I have: Is the blackfaced person Northam dressed for the dance contest?
- During his press conference, he asked his wife?/aide? to remind him of the persona he adopted, yet he'd just minutes before told us he'd dressed as Michael Jackson.
- That's one hell of a "brain fart" to have given that his "mea culpa" relies, in part on the line of "blackface wasn't beneath me back then, but I've changed." Maybe he truly had a "brain fart." I don't know, but I'd ask him about it.
- Northam says he didn't buy the yearbook; thus he didn't know of the image.
- I'm willing to accept that as true. The claim likely can't be dis-/proven, so there's no point in not accepting it. More importantly, his having bought the book is ingermane to the questions needing answers:
- Is Northam a racist or a reformed racist? To the extent no "smoking gun" answer exists, has the overwhelming preponderance of Northam's behavior between 1984 and 2019 earned him the benefit of the doubt regarding his explication of the matter and attestations about his character and mindset?
- Not knowing of the image's placement is a reasonable excuse for not having addressed it prior to now.
- I'm willing to accept that as true. The claim likely can't be dis-/proven, so there's no point in not accepting it. More importantly, his having bought the book is ingermane to the questions needing answers:
- Northam said his is not one of the persons in the image, explaining that on "day 1," he "owned" the photo's appearance on his yearbook page based on reasonable inference -- it's his page in the yearbook and the picture is there -- and the "day 1" crush of demands for a response. He also stated that unlike the other images on that page, the blackface/KKK one isn't an image he submitted. Northam posited that the picture's presence results from an editorial error the 1984 yearbook production team made.
- Additional thoughts:
- Credible is Northam's claim of having, in 1984, ignored the implications of blackface. The bigger "problem" is that ignorance is no exculpation for one who thinks himself "not racist" posing in a photo with someone wearing a KKK outfit. If Northam is the person in blackface, he's got more to atone for than being thus costumed. That's my view as someone who in the 1990s ended an ~15 year friendship due to the former friend's racially discriminatory behavior.
- Day 1:
(cont'd due to character limit)