Embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam highlighted a portrait in the state’s executive mansion of a Confederate governor in the mid-1800s who defended slavery.
In his first formal interview since a controversial photograph came to light, Northam showed a Washington Post reporter around the mansion while describing how he would dedicate the rest of his term as governor to racial reconciliation.
While walking around the mansion, Northam pointed out an image of Henry Wise, who served as Virginia governor from 1856-1860.
When asked if the image should come down, Northam reportedly seemed surprised to find out that Wise was a Confederate general and defended slavery.
There have been heightened calls for the removal of Confederate-related statutes and monuments, including changing highway names to remove the names of Confederate figures. The white supremacist rally and counterprotest in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, where counterprotester Heather Heyer was killed when a man ran his car into a crowd, centered on a statue of Robert E. Lee, who commanded the Confederate forces.
When asked if the portrait should be removed from the governor’s mansion, Northam said: “Well, I think that’s an important part of history, and we need to tell all history.”
“We have good history in Virginia … and we have history that’s not good and I don’t think we can shy away from any of it,” he said. “We must tell it all, we must put it in perspective.”
At the start of this month, a page from Northam’s medical school yearbook surfaced where several pictures of the then-student appeared alongside an image of two individuals, one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood.
It is not clear if either of those pictured is Northam, who initially apologized for the photograph but later said he was not one of the people in it.
Amid calls for him to resign from the governorship, Northam has shown no indication that he plans to do so.
