Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is being pressured to resign over a photo on his page in a 1984 school publication. It depicts a person in blackface alongside someone in a Ku Klux Klan costume.
Was the photo in poor taste? Yes. Was it illegal? No. If he posed for such a photograph today, I would wholeheartedly agree he should resign. I do not know anything about Gov. Northam. But enough people had enough faith in him to elect him to head the government of the commonwealth of Virginia.
This current and growing practice of digging up compromising events from the far distant past is harmful in so many ways. When we point fingers at youthful indiscretions, we are not allowing ourselves to forgive one another. Let’s speculate that he had racist leanings. Can’t people grow and change?
Should we go after the person who published it? The other person in the photo? The person who hosted the party? Where does it end?
Personally, I would not want to be held accountable for something I did 35 years ago, barring anything clearly criminal. Who would? Yet this country elected a leader who committed adultery and has been, and continues to be, grossly inappropriate in ways too many to name. If we are going to live on a moral high ground, let’s set our priorities for who becomes our target.
Gov. Northam’s 1984 photograph should be the least of our worries.
Kathleen Koles
Saco
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