Has he changed, or does he need to resign?
On Friday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) admitted that he was in the photo. However, oddly, on Saturday he took that back and says he didn't remember ever wearing something like that. Although this is confusing, most people think he was telling the truth the first time and is now just trying to cover his tracks. Based on the Governor's tall height, some have speculated that he is most likely the one in blackface.
Almost all elected leaders in Virginia, including Democrats, are now calling on him to resign, but he has yet to do so.
This has made me think, should he resign? Feel free to leave your own opinions in the comments below, but here are my thoughts:
I believe in redemption - without allowing people to redeem themselves our society will have to condemn everybody for views that we no longer believe in. This photo is from 1984, and he certainly has had time to change and learn since then. So does he still hold the beliefs expressed in this edgy joke from 35 years ago? Probably not. His policies have generally been pro-minority and against racism. He supports affirmative action, acknowledges racism in the judicial system, and supports immigration. It does seem like he had genuinely changed. On the other hand, there is at least one recent instance where he supported a policy that at least ignored what is best for black people. He supports building a compressor station near Union Hill, a historically black community, which has attracted a lot of criticism because of how it will impact the working-class people there. Out of all the places the station could be built, of course it gets built in a working-class area full of black people, since those people are the least politically powerful and can't oppose it. That is pretty messed up.
In addition, a lot of Democrats are outraged that the Governor never brought up this past before, and apologized for it. It is hard to trust someone who would hide this.
Ultimately it is hard for me to really make a decision about whether I think he should resign or not. Compare Northam to Robert Byrd. Byrd was another Democrat with a racist past - but a much more serious one. Byrd was not only a member of the Ku Klux Klan when he was younger, he even founded in his own chapter with 150 members. He was elected to lead his chapter of the Klan. Later in life he became a Democrat, acknowledged his past mistakes, supported civil rights legislation, and even became friends with national leadership of the NAACP. So what is the difference between them? Both of these politicians had decades to learn from their past mistakes, and began to support politicians that favored racial equality.
Maybe it is that Byrd was involved in the Klan in the 1940s, while Northam did this in the 1980s, and by then the country knew better? Maybe it was that Byrd was open about his faults, and apologized for them? Maybe it is because Northam has been imperfect on some racial issues?
Let me know what you think. Should he resign?