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VA Gov. Northam Delays Resignation Decision over Racist Yearbook Photo

HeadlineFeb 05, 2019

Democratic Virginia Governor Ralph Northam told his staffers he would make a decision about his future as governor “soon” as the scandal around a racist 1984 yearbook photo continues to mount. On Friday, Northam apologized for a photo in his Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook showing a man wearing blackface posing next to a man wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit, but walked back his statements the following day, claiming neither of the men in the photo was him, although he did admit to using blackface to portray Michael Jackson at a dance contest. Northam is reportedly hoping to prove he is neither of the people in the photo that has both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and civil liberties groups, calling for his resignation. Northam reportedly told his Cabinet members he was worried he would be thought of as a “racist for life” if he resigned.

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