Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam reportedly told members of his Cabinet and his administration Sunday evening during an emergency meeting he would be branded a “racist for life” if he caved to pressure and stepped down due to the controversy over a racist photo that appeared on his medical school yearbook page.
While he has considered resignation, Northam told staff during the meeting which took place during the Super Bowl he hopes to remain in office and clear his name, CNN reported Monday.
Northam is facing tremendous pressure from within his own party to step aside after the Friday publication of a photo of a man in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood from his page in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Mecidal School’s yearbook.
The right-wing conservative website Big League Politics first published the photo, and other outlets later confirmed the photo’s existence.
[Opinion: The problem with Democrats’ calls for Ralph Northam’s resignation]
Northam, a Democrat, issued an apology for the photo on Friday, but backtracked on Saturday during a press conference. He told reporters he didn’t believe he was one of the two men in the photo, but he did admit to wearing blackface in 1984 when he dressed up as Michael Jackson for a talent show.
“Right now, I am simply asking for the opportunity to demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person I was is not the man I am today. I am asking for the opportunity to earn your forgiveness,” Northam said in a prepared statement on Saturday.
Democrats including Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia have called on Northam to step down. Several 2020 presidential candidates have also called for him to resign, as have the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, the House Democratic Caucus, and Virginia Senate Democrats.
