The Republican Party of Virginia has called on Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam to resign if a photo on his medical school yearbook page depicts him in either blackface or dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
“Racism has no place in Virginia,” chairman Jack Wilson said in a statement. “These pictures are wholly inappropriate. If Governor Northam appeared in blackface or dressed in a KKK robe, he should resign immediately.”
A photo of Northam’s 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook page surfaced Friday. It includes a photo of two men, one in attire worn by members of the KKK and the other in blackface.
Northam apologized Friday evening, though he declined to specify which person he was in the photo.
“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,” he said, adding that “it will take time and serious effort to heal the damage this conduct has caused.”
The photo caps off a controversial week for Northam, who has faced intense criticism from Republicans over comments on late-term abortions.
