After a months-long review, independent investigators said that they were unable to determine whether Gov. Ralph Northam himself was in the racist photo that appeared in his 1984 yearbook. The investigation, carried out by the McGuireWoods law firm at the behest of Eastern Virginia Medical School, stated on Wednesday, “With respect to the photograph on Governor Northam’s personal page, we could not conclusively determine the identity of either individual depicted in the Photograph.”
The photo depicting two people, one dressed up in Ku Klux Klan robes and the other in blackface, appeared on Northam’s 1984 yearbook page at Eastern Virginia Medical School and came to light on Feb. 1 of this year. Northam quickly admitted he was in the photo, then backtracked saying he’d actually appeared in blackface a different time.
“The Governor himself has made inconsistent public statements in this regard. No individual that we interviewed has told us from personal knowledge that the Governor is in the photograph, and no individual with knowledge has come forward to us to report that the Governor is in the photograph,” the newly-released report concluded.
The investigators said that, despite extensive interviews and months of research, they could not discern whether it was Northam in that photo. “While we have identified no information that the Photograph was placed on Governor Northam’s personal page in error or by any other means not at his direction, we could not conclusively determine the origin of the photograph.”
Northam originally apologized for 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. This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today.” Northam also tweeted he was “deeply sorry,” explaining: “I cannot change the decisions I made nor can I undo the harm my behavior caused then and today.”
“But I accept responsibility for my past actions and I am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust,” Northam said at the time.
But the next day he reversed course, saying: “I reflected with my family and classmates and came to the conclusion that I am not the person in the photo.” On Feb. 2, Northam admitted he had worn blackface, but at a different time, while dressing up as Michael Jackson in a dance contest in 1984.
Northam claimed he’d hire a private detective to investigate, but there has been no confirmation he did so. His alma mater teamed up with McGuireWoods, a prominent Big Law firm, to launch an investigation of its own. Richard Cullen, a senior partner there, led the investigation. Cullen is a seasoned investigator, assisting Congress with investigating Watergate and Iran-Contra, then serving as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia in the 1990s before becoming attorney general of Virginia in 1997 and 1998.
The investigators said that they interviewed Northam about the racist yearbook photo twice, on March 27, 2019 and on May 8, 2019. Although Northam said it was staff members who had written the apology statements that he eventually walked back, he admitted to the investigators that “he read and approved the publication of these statements before they were issued.”
Northam had previously said that he remembered submitting a number of pictures to the yearbook, including one of him in front of a car and another wearing a cowboy hat. In today’s press conference, Cullen said that he interviewed Northam about that, and said that Northam “remembers the car and the cowboy hat one, but he does not remember the KKK and the blackface one.”
The report states that Northam “believes he is not in the photograph based on the size of the individuals in the photograph.” Northam claimed that “the person in blackface had much larger legs than he did in medical school” and that “the person in the KKK robes is much shorter than he is.”
“Governor Northam commented that he would remember standing next to someone dressed in KKK robes,” the report says.
During their interview with Northam, investigators said of Northam that “he ‘remembered like it was yesterday’ when he entered into a dance contest in San Antonio in the fall of 1984 and dressed up in blackface (with shoe polish) as Michael Jackson. Looking at the KKK robes, he would remember if he had done that, and said he never would have done that.”
The report also stated that numerous members of Eastern Virginia Medical School, including EVMS President Homan, were aware of the racist photo’s existence on Northam’s yearbook page prior to it being widely revealed in 2019. The report says that “the timing of when it was raised to the attention of each President corresponded with periods when Governor Northam was running for different public offices.” And the report claims that “Homan’s reasoning was EVMS should not become involved, or be seen to become involved, in an election” and that “EVMS did not want there to be any suggestion that it had tried to influence Governor Northam in any respect by calling the Photograph to his attention.”
Northam’s problems began on Jan. 28, when Virginia Democratic Del. Kathy Tran said her bill loosening abortion restrictions in the third trimester would let a pregnancy be ended even up to the time of birth. On Jan. 30, Gov. Ralph Northam went on a WTOP radio show and, when asked about the controversy, gave an answer that was seen by many Republicans as an endorsement of infanticide.
“[Third trimester abortions are] done in cases where there may be severe deformities. There may be a fetus that’s nonviable. So in this particular example, if a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam said. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
The video went viral and was met by wide-ranging condemnation from Republicans who said he seemed to be defending “born-alive abortions.” Northam, a former pediatrician, tweeted later that day, “I have devoted my life to caring for children and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting.”
The racist yearbook photo emerged a few days later.
The firestorm surrounding the photo led to many leading Democrats both in Virginia and nationwide to call for Northam’s resignation, but they backed off as Northam refused to leave office and as allegations of sexual misconduct emerged against Northam’s would-be successor, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax.
Northam’s comments on abortion are still brought up regularly by President Trump on the campaign trail, and Republicans in the House and Senate have been pushing for the passage of the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act in response.
