Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said it was time to move on from the blackface/Ku Klux Klan yearbook photo scandal with the conclusion of the Eastern Virginia Medical School’s investigation.
“What has happened in the Commonwealth of Virginia, I regret that, I have addressed that. But today we are talking about gun violence and how to save lives in Virginia,” Northam told a reporter on Tuesday.
Northam said his office conducted their own investigation and turned over what they found to Eastern Virginia Medical School.
“You know, we’ve turned the page. Virginians want to move forward. They want a leader, a leader such as me, that has passed Medicaid expansion in Virginia — 400,000 working Virginians that now have access to healthcare,” he said.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on blackface scandal: “We’ve turned the page.”
Today I asked Northam if he feels as though he owes it to the people of Virginia to definitively say who’s in racist photo + how it ended up on his personal yearbook page. Here’s his answer ??? pic.twitter.com/aP1hjIOt2a
— Josh Rosenthal (@JoshRosenthalTV) June 5, 2019
The Eastern Virginia Medical School said their investigation into who was in the photo, which had one student in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan robes on Northam’s personal yearbook page, was inconclusive.
After the picture was revealed, Northam initially said he was in the photo, but did not specify which person he was. He later said he was not either person in the photo, but did admit to darkening his face as part of a Michael Jackson costume at another party. Northam also went by the nickname ‘Coonman’ while he attended the Virginia Military Institute.
