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[AmareIsGod]

Do you think it's a dangerous trend to imply racism to someone when things happened 35 years ago?

I was born 35 years ago. I didn't realize that during the year of my birth, it was acceptable to wear a KKK hood or blackface. I'm glad times have changed since then. Seems alarming to see, in a yearbook that requires editors, that content like this would be acceptable in the mid 1980's.

[Mori Chu]

So Northam made a public statement today where he now backtracks and denies that it is him in the blackface/KKK photo and refuses to resign. Democrats seem to be universally denouncing this and calling on him to resign. Republicans are also criticizing him, but they can go jump in a lake because they never hold their own to account (see also: Steve King, Roy Moore, Donald Trump). GOP takes advantage of the fact that the Dems hold their own to high standards. They don't actually care about racism or discrimination, only dunking on Dems and getting perceived wins.

[Indy]

To be fair, he says he knows it wasn't him in that blackface photo because he so vividly remembers using shoe polish on his face that same year to enter a dance competition, and he dressed up as Michael Jackson. Oh, and he said he only used a little bit on his cheeks, because he knew how hard it was to get off. Hmm.

[Mori Chu]

To be fair, he says he knows it wasn't him in that blackface photo because he so vividly remembers using shoe polish on his face that same year to enter a dance competition, and he dressed up as Michael Jackson. Oh, and he said he only used a little bit on his cheeks, because he knew how hard it was to get off. Hmm.

He's going to have to resign. This won't go away.

[Cap]

34+ years ago? And I thought it was annoying to lose GOTG3 to ten-year-old tweets.

You’ve got to give stupid young men a chance to grow up. There needs to be a statute of limitations on this kind of thing.

[In2ition]

Is Northam still a racist? Could people change in 35 yrs?
The pastor at the church my family attends used to be a skin head. He came to the church during that time when they need a drummer. He ended up eventually becoming a believer and doing his best to attone for his past issues. He's not a racist anymore, and is staunchly against racism.
Racism is totally wrong. I believe people can change.

[Indy]

34+ years ago? And I thought it was annoying to lose GOTG3 to ten-year-old tweets.

You’ve got to give stupid young men a chance to grow up. There needs to be a statute of limitations on this kind of thing.

It isn't like he was 12. He was in his mid-20s in medical school. Without a significant event in your life, you don't drastically change your views on race after your 20s. There doesn't need to be a free pass because it happened a long time ago.

[Indy]

Is Northam still a racist? Could people change in 35 yrs?
The pastor at the church my family attends used to be a skin head. He came to the church during that time when they need a drummer. He ended up eventually becoming a believer and doing his best to attone for his past issues. He's not a racist anymore, and is staunchly against racism.
Racism is totally wrong. I believe people can change.

I assume you know he used to be a skin head and is now totally against racism is because he lives that new view, and openly shares how it changed him. That is wonderful. I completely support it. If Northam went through a similar conversion, I am sure we wouldn't first be hearing about it after the photos surfaced. And he wouldn't have been caught cropping his black running mate out of his campaign flyers.

[Cap]

Do you think it's a dangerous trend to imply racism to someone when things happened 35 years ago?

I was born 35 years ago. I didn't realize that during the year of my birth, it was acceptable to wear a KKK hood or blackface. I'm glad times have changed since then. Seems alarming to see, in a yearbook that requires editors, that content like this would be acceptable in the mid 1980's.

Actually, attitudes have changed a lot since then. You might not remember the year of your birth, but I was old enough to be watching cartoons, and blackface was a common comedic trope in the cartoons I watched. Most of them were produced in the 60’s or earlier, but in 1984 we had not yet gotten to the point where such cartoons were removed from circulation. I didn’t know the historical context or what it represented; I just thought it was funny because it was constantly presented on TV as funny. Good thing I didn’t share a poorly chosen Tom & Jerry still in my elementary school yearbook, or I might still be dealing with it today.

I’m concerned about the message this is sending. Once you’ve cracked a racist joke in public, you’d better look for social acceptance with the Stormfront crowd, because you’ll never find it with anybody else? There are way too many racists out there to write them all off as deplorable and irredeemable. They have to be given an opportunity to grow up and be accepted by polite society.

[Indy]

Do you think it's a dangerous trend to imply racism to someone when things happened 35 years ago?

I was born 35 years ago. I didn't realize that during the year of my birth, it was acceptable to wear a KKK hood or blackface. I'm glad times have changed since then. Seems alarming to see, in a yearbook that requires editors, that content like this would be acceptable in the mid 1980's.

Actually, attitudes have changed a lot since then. You might not remember the year of your birth, but I was old enough to be watching cartoons, and blackface was a common comedic trope in the cartoons I watched. Most of them were produced in the 60’s or earlier, but in 1984 we had not yet gotten to the point where such cartoons were removed from circulation. I didn’t know the historical context or what it represented; I just thought it was funny because it was constantly presented on TV as funny. Good thing I didn’t share a poorly chosen Tom & Jerry still in my elementary school yearbook, or I might still be dealing with it today.

I’m concerned about the message this is sending. Once you’ve cracked a racist joke in public, you’d better look for social acceptance with the Stormfront crowd, because you’ll never find it with anybody else? There are way too many racists out there to write them all off as deplorable and irredeemable. They have to be given an opportunity to grow up and be accepted by polite society.

If you are cracking racist jokes when you are in your 20s, you are deplorable. You may redeem yourself at some time, but you don't do it by denying you did anything wrong.

[Mori Chu]

I’m concerned about the message this is sending. Once you’ve cracked a racist joke in public, you’d better look for social acceptance with the Stormfront crowd, because you’ll never find it with anybody else?

I think there's a big difference between, "We don't want you as governor," and, "You cannot find any social circle that will accept you other than the KKK/Stormfront." I don't want him purged from society; I just don't want him as an elected official. That office has to have a higher standard than a normal job. You represent the people, all of the people, in that state. You can't carry racist discriminatory views about a large portion of your own constituents and still represent them well as governor.

I recognize that 35 years ago is a long time. It does raise questions about how do you come back from something like that, how do you show that you've changed, how long can it be held against you. But again, this is about the specific job of being an elected official, being governor. Because of what that job is, you just can't be an open racist if you are going to hold that job. If it had happened 35 years ago but he had owned it long ago, apologized clearly for it, done work to make up for it like donating, volunteering, helping African-American and other communities? Maybe. But he has done none of that. He half-apologizes while denying that he did it, and then he almost literally does the moonwalk during his press conference to show off before his wife stops him. This is not atonement.

He has to go. Democrats have to have the high ground here and have to have zero tolerance for racism or bigotry.

[ShelC]

Keep him office, pass a bunch of far-left/socialist bills and drive the Rs crazy. Moral high ground has gone out the window. Win at all costs is the name of the game. They should've let him moonwalk.

If Steven King is still office, keep this guy there. This will be a non-story by Wednesday.

[Mori Chu]

This story keeps getting weirder. Now it sounds like the Lieutenant Governor of VA is being accused of sexual assault, and the AG of VA is also coming under fire for wearing blackface. I haven't yet had time to read much about it, but it looks embarrassing for all involved.

[In2ition]

Yeah, it's not looking good. I saw this tweet that happened https://twitter.com/Dondep/status/1091541128678121472 but I honestly don't know if it's Northam's father or not. It's a very sad and troubling story developing.

[Mori Chu]

I don't know about Northam's father. I will say that I don't see any point in dunking on Kamala Harris. She didn't know about any blackface/KKK photo issue at the time. And the reason she says that Northam's election means that VA won't stand for hatred or bigotry is because Northam's opponent ran his campaign on the promise to preserve precious Confederate statues and monuments in the state, while Northam said he wants to take them down. It's less about the person than about that issue and about removing racist traitory old statues.

[In2ition]

It just seemed a little ironic. Kamala Harris seems to be the front runner for the ticket as of now.

[ShelC]

LOL that's not Northam's father in that tweet. It's Daniel Carver, former head of the KKK (or some chapter), who used to be on the Howard Stern Show.

[Mori Chu]

LOL that's not Northam's father in that tweet. It's Daniel Carver, former head of the KKK (or some chapter), who used to be on the Howard Stern Show.

It looks like Shel is right. I found the same picture by googling Carver's name:

https://www.whosdatedwho.com/dating/daniel-carver

A good reminder not to blindly forward conservative troll tweets that are blatantly wrong. You got taken on this one, In2.

[In2ition]

LOL that's not Northam's father in that tweet. It's Daniel Carver, former head of the KKK (or some chapter), who used to be on the Howard Stern Show.

It looks like Shel is right. I found the same picture by googling Carver's name:

https://www.whosdatedwho.com/dating/daniel-carver

A good reminder not to blindly forward conservative troll tweets that are blatantly wrong. You got taken on this one, In2.

Doh. I did say that I didn't know if this was his father or not, but that is on me. My bad people...nothing to see here. Northam is still a douche though it seems.

[ShelC]

Keep him office, pass a bunch of far-left/socialist bills and drive the Rs crazy. Moral high ground has gone out the window. Win at all costs is the name of the game. They should've let him moonwalk.

If Steven King is still office, keep this guy there. This will be a non-story by Wednesday.

See!