VA Gov. Ralph Northam Yearbook Photo - LG and AG Scandals Too (1 Viewer)

[Joe Bryant]

Maybe. Sometimes. I don’t know. 

I just hate the rush to judgment. News comes out, 30 minutes later he has to resign. I want to know more. What’s the story behind it? What has he been like in the years inbetween? 

When I know that stuff then I can answer you. Not now. But I get that I’m probably on an island here. 

https://twitter.com/MikevWUSA/status/1091474249620033536

“Earlier today, a website published a photograph of me from my 1984 medical school yearbook that is clearly racist and offensive.

“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 and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment.

“I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to beat the damage this conduct has caused. I am ready to do that important work. The first step is to offer my sincerest apology and to state my absolute commitment to living up to the expectations Virginians set for me when they elected me to be their Governor.”

 

[Joe Bryant]

This was 1984. He was a college graduate and in Medical School. 

It's not like this was 1954. This was not "a different time".

I was college at Texas A&M in 1984. I imagine it's not that far off from VMI. There was an incident where some dudes dressed up like KKK and chased some guys in black face at a Halloween drunk prank on the Northside strip. People were PISSED. They knew it was WAY wrong. Even for a drunk stupid prank.

How he could think that was cool to PRINT in a year book is stunning. 

 

[timschochet]

https://twitter.com/MikevWUSA/status/1091474249620033536

“Earlier today, a website published a photograph of me from my 1984 medical school yearbook that is clearly racist and offensive.

“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 and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment.

“I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to beat the damage this conduct has caused. I am ready to do that important work. The first step is to offer my sincerest apology and to state my absolute commitment to living up to the expectations Virginians set for me when they elected me to be their Governor.”

Yeah I read that. So what do you think ? 

 

[Joe Bryant]

The difference with Kavanaugh, if the charge was true, was that he hurt somebody else. That should not be forgiven. It’s a big distinction with me. As bad as these stories are (Northam and the guy in Florida) you’re talking about photographs. 

Wow. 

 

[AAABatteries]

I accept his apology and believe him - glad he did it.  He should resign.

 

[timschochet]

Wow. 

Obviously you disagree. Do you really think one is the equal of the other? Just as bad? 

 

[SWC]

while i appreciate that people can change and get better i do not think that people that have made that change should be governors without having it fully disclosed in the election process and if it had been there is likely no way in heck that this guy is governor so to me he is now just sort of a charlatan and should resign take that to the bank brohans 

 

[timschochet]

This was 1984. He was a college graduate and in Medical School. 

It's not like this was 1954. This was not "a different time".

I was college at Texas A&M in 1984. I imagine it's not that far off from VMI. There was an incident where some dudes dressed up like KKK and chased some guys in black face at a Halloween drunk prank on the Northside strip. People were PISSED. They knew it was WAY wrong. Even for a drunk stupid prank.

How he could think that was cool to PRINT in a year book is stunning. 

Agreed. It’s awful, and he has no excuse. 

Nonetheless I’d still like to know how he’s behaved since before I pass judgment. 

 

[joffer]

bye

 

[boots11234]

Poor joke but he was a kid. And was the joke as tasteless then as it is now?

Since when is 24 years old “a kid”?  That being said as a republican im inclined to give him a pass.  Dude was young and probably drunk and or stoned when picture was taken. Doesn’t have a history. Sad your life can be ruined because of one non-criminal mistake. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

Agreed. It’s awful, and he has no excuse. 

Nonetheless I’d still like to know how he’s behaved since before I pass judgment. 

So if he was not dressing up in black face of KKK hoods for fun since then, all good?

Unbelievable. 

 

[urbanhack]

zero tolerance is the only way to make real change

 

[boots11234]

So if he was not dressing up in black face of KKK hoods for fun since then, all good?

Unbelievable. 

Of course not but we have all done stupid stupid things. No one you know including  yourself has ever done a terribly stupid thing?  I doubt it. I’m sure he’s ashamed of it. 

To cast a guys life down the drain because of this one mistake seems harsh. Now if it comes out that he was a clan member that changes things.

i predict with the proliferation of video and cameras no one will ever be able to run for office in the future. 

 

[Joe Bryant]

Of course not but we have all done stupid stupid things. No one you know including  yourself has ever done a terribly stupid thing?  I doubt it. I’m sure he’s ashamed of it. 

To cast a guys life down the drain because of this one mistake seems harsh. Now if it comes out that he was a clan member that changes things.

i predict with the proliferation of video and cameras no one will ever be able to run for office in the future. 

Who needs video or cameras? This wasn't accidentally caught secretly on a cell phone. THIS WAS THE PHOTO CHOSEN FOR HIS YEARBOOK.

 

[SWC]

im not saying flush the guys life down the toilet hell he might have truly changed and be a great guy but when you have this in your past you either just have to accpet you are not governor material or you have to disclose it during the election and let people make a fully informed decision anything else is deciveing the people take that to the bank brohans 

 

[GoBirds]

Agreed. It’s awful, and he has no excuse. 

Nonetheless I’d still like to know how he’s behaved since before I pass judgment. 

Please reconsider next time you throw around accusations in here of acting similar to white supremecist if you are going to this extreme to hold back judgment on Northam. 

Not it only was this guy in that disgusting picture.....he picked it as one of his 3 favorites for the yearbook!?!?!?

 

[SWC]

ps also i think the picture is horrible especially at 24 and a voluntarily chosen picture and an indicator of a horrible sense of judgment and if he was running around here hed be a hard no for me take that to the bank 

 

[phandango]

Of course not but we have all done stupid stupid things. No one you know including  yourself has ever done a terribly stupid thing?  I doubt it. I’m sure he’s ashamed of it. 

To cast a guys life down the drain because of this one mistake seems harsh. Now if it comes out that he was a clan member that changes things.

i predict with the proliferation of video and cameras no one will ever be able to run for office in the future. 

A guy was on tape bragging about grabbing women by their genitalia a few weeks before he was elected president. 

 

[adonis]

ps also i think the picture is horrible especially at 24 and a voluntarily chosen picture and an indicator of a horrible sense of judgment and if he was running around here hed be a hard no for me take that to the bank 

He voluntarily chose the picture? 

Obviously I'm not following this story closely.

 

[Joe Bryant]

Least excited guy to see this. Jimmy Kimmel. https://youtu.be/5aPbefau2Zc

 

[SWC]

ps also i think the picture is horrible especially at 24 and a voluntarily chosen picture and an indicator of a horrible sense of judgment and if he was running around here hed be a hard no for me take that to the bank 

He voluntarily chose the picture? 

i understand that he got to pick what was on his yearbook page and he chose that as one of the ones he wanted on there for people to remember him by take taht to the bank bromigo

 

[adonis]

i understand that he got to pick what was on his yearbook page and he chose that as one of the ones he wanted on there for people to remember him by take taht to the bank bromigo

Wow.  That's an unbelievably poor decision (on top of doing what he did in the first place).

 

[GoBirds]

Least excited guy to see this. Jimmy Kimmel. https://youtu.be/5aPbefau2Zc

Wow good memory on that one. Kimmel has come along way, would be interesting to hear him defend that on now. 

 

[dgreen]

This was 1984. He was a college graduate and in Medical School. 

It's not like this was 1954. This was not "a different time”.

Just from counting years, 1984 is closer to 1954 than it is to 2019. That doesn’t necessarily mean that 1984’s views on race was more similar to 1954 but I think we are kidding ourselves if we think 1984 was really close to 2019. 

 

[timschochet]

So if he was not dressing up in black face of KKK hoods for fun since then, all good?

Unbelievable. 

I didn’t say that. I said I wanted to know more, and I wanted everyone to take a deep breath. Sorry you find that unbelievable. Probably after examining it all I’ll decide like you that he has to go. But I don’t need to decide that immediately. 

You know Joe, once a week I attend Continuing Care for Alcoholics Anonymous with my wife, and I hear awful stories. Terrible stories. Dads who stole money from their kids to buy drugs. Moms who drove drunk with toddlers in the car. And so on. Unforgivable stuff and yet it has changed my perspective on forgiveness and redemption. I try to be more cautious now. 

 

[caustic]

As with Kavanaugh, I think there’s a big difference between “having your life ruined” and “not holding a prestigious public office.” It might be unfair to have your life ruined over a youthful indiscretion, even a super racist and terrible one, but it is absolutely disqualifying for the ####### governorship.

 

[adonis]

It's an interesting thing to think through though.  Situations like this.

Take a generic candidate doing a good job in elected office.  Completely good person, kind to workers, works hard to improve lives of all people who elected him.

One day you learn something really bad about them from 30 years ago.

What's the threshold for determining whether it's significant enough for him to have to resign?  How is this calibrated to allow for growing and learning from past mistakes, but also having standards?

 

[shader]

zero tolerance is the only way to make real change

Not sure I agree with that when it comes to pictures from 35 years ago.  It appears that the governor made real change.  He made racist jokes as a 24 year old and now he’s a prominent democrat that appears to oppose racism of any form.  So he appears to have changed.  

 

[timschochet]

Please reconsider next time you throw around accusations in here of acting similar to white supremecist if you are going to this extreme to hold back judgment on Northam. 

But see that’s part of it. IMO, almost all of us are guilty, from time to time, of racist thoughts, racist comments, sometimes racist actions. Me included. That doesn’t make us racist, it makes us human and fallible. Incidents like this one allow people to be righteous in their anger and point the finger at somebody and say “THAT guy is a racist”, and allows the rest of us to be pristene. 

 

[Plorfu]

I think you can possibly forgive the guy and understand he's probably a changed person, but he can't effectively govern anymore. 

 

[timschochet]

Not sure I agree with that when it comes to pictures from 35 years ago.  It appears that the governor made real change.  He made racist jokes as a 24 year old and now he’s a prominent democrat that appears to oppose racism of any form.  So he appears to have changed.  

Again, I don’t know this. I don’t want to reach that conclusion without knowing more. 

 

[timschochet]

I think you can possibly forgive the guy and understand he's probably a changed person, but he can't effectively govern anymore. 

This is true as well. He may not be able to govern effectively. That’s an excellent point. 

 

[shader]

I didn’t say that. I said I wanted to know more, and I wanted everyone to take a deep breath. Sorry you find that unbelievable. Probably after examining it all I’ll decide like you that he has to go. But I don’t need to decide that immediately. 

You know Joe, once a week I attend Continuing Care for Alcoholics Anonymous with my wife, and I hear awful stories. Terrible stories. Dads who stole money from their kids to buy drugs. Moms who drove drunk with toddlers in the car. And so on. Unforgivable stuff and yet it has changed my perspective on forgiveness and redemption. I try to be more cautious now. 

I really respect  your attitude here. 

 

[adonis]

I think you can possibly forgive the guy and understand he's probably a changed person, but he can't effectively govern anymore. 

This is true as well. He may not be able to govern effectively. That’s an excellent point. 

Interestingly enough, his ability to govern hasn't really changed much since the release of the picture.  But people's perception of him as a governor has changed.

That's the real odd thing.  His ability to do his job, the job he was elected for and seemingly qualified for, is something he was as good at yesterday as he is today.

 

[SWC]

holy smokes i worry that people are putting party before ethics here if you have a picture of yourself in blackface next to a klansman that you picked to be in your medical school yearbook and a dumb quote under it that is more than just a racist thought that ran through your head by any objective measurement its a horrible exercise of judgment and if you decide to run for an office with that in your background you had better be pretty damned upfront about it or you are truly not being honest with the people you want to govern and that to me is also a horrible exercise of judgment and in my mind its fair to ask for someone who would take those two steps to resign from public office they can work on redemption and change all they want but those two items together are disqualifying take that to the bank bromigos 

 

[Dooook]

Here's what I know of this man in 2019...  He is in favor of removing Confederate symbols from public spaces and has resoundingly condemned the actions of the white nationalist marches in Virginia, seeking to deny their right to assemble and working hard to have them prosecuted if they even remotely break a law.  

 

[boots11234]

I didn’t say that. I said I wanted to know more, and I wanted everyone to take a deep breath. Sorry you find that unbelievable. Probably after examining it all I’ll decide like you that he has to go. But I don’t need to decide that immediately. 

You know Joe, once a week I attend Continuing Care for Alcoholics Anonymous with my wife, and I hear awful stories. Terrible stories. Dads who stole money from their kids to buy drugs. Moms who drove drunk with toddlers in the car. And so on. Unforgivable stuff and yet it has changed my perspective on forgiveness and redemption. I try to be more cautious now. 

Ugh, I hate agreeing with tim

 

[timschochet]

I’m curious about those of you who think he has to resign: should we apply this same rule to other positions of some authority? For example: 

A school teacher? 

A police chief? 

An airline pilot? 

A general? 

The chief surgeon at a hospital? 

I’m not trying to continue an argument with this question. I’m honestly curious. Does this only apply to politicians? 

 

[Plorfu]

Interestingly enough, his ability to govern hasn't really changed much since the release of the picture.  But people's perception of him as a governor has changed.

That's the real odd thing.  His ability to do his job, the job he was elected for and seemingly qualified for, is something he was as good at yesterday as he is today.

I mean, he still knows what he's doing, yes. But part of governing is building consensus and being taken seriously on a variety of subjects, and that's gone now. 

 

[Dooook]

holy smokes i worry that people are putting party before ethics here if you have a picture of yourself in blackface next to a klansman that you picked to be in your medical school yearbook and a dumb quote under it that is more than just a racist thought that ran through your head by any objective measurement its a horrible exercise of judgment and if you decide to run for an office with that in your background you had better be pretty damned upfront about it or you are truly not being honest with the people you want to govern and that to me is also a horrible exercise of judgment and in my mind its fair to ask for someone who would take those two steps to resign from public office they can work on redemption and change all they want but those two items together are disqualifying take that to the bank bromigos 

This is very, very, valid

 

[GoBirds]

But see that’s part of it. IMO, almost all of us are guilty, from time to time, of racist thoughts, racist comments, sometimes racist actions. Me included. That doesn’t make us racist, it makes us human and fallible. Incidents like this one allow people to be righteous in their anger and point the finger at somebody and say “THAT guy is a racist”, and allows the rest of us to be pristene. 

In general what you are saying makes sense but it’s like you are trying not to see what’s in front of you.....he didn’t just slip up late night after a few beers. In a clear state of mind he selected this picture for a freaking yearbook....his nickname in a VMI yearbook is “Coonman”. If you haven’t seen enough you aren’t looking on purpose. 

 

[boots11234]

I’m curious about those of you who think he has to resign: should we apply this same rule to other positions of some authority? For example: 

A school teacher? 

A police chief? 

An airline pilot? 

A general? 

The chief surgeon at a hospital? 

I’m not trying to continue an argument with this question. I’m honestly curious. Does this only apply to politicians? 

Exactly.  I don't want to racist teaching my kids!!!!  This is the issue, sounds like this guy made a mistake when he was young and now he's a different man.  I've done a lot of things when I was young that I certainly am not proud of but now I like to think Im a different man.  

Again, I wouldn't vote for this guy if he was the only one running so I have no reason to defend him.

 

[Shula-holic]

If he somehow survives, the former Florida Secretary of State is gonna want his job back.

 

[timschochet]

In general what you are saying makes sense but it’s like you are trying not to see what’s in front of you.....he didn’t just slip up late night after a few beers. In a clear state of mind he selected this picture for a freaking yearbook....his nickname in a VMI yearbook is “Coonman”. If you haven’t seen enough you aren’t looking on purpose. 

I know that. It looks bad. I’d have to say right now, having learned about the VMI nickname, that I’m 90% convinced he has to go. 

But 90% is not 100%. It may be in an hour. Or a day. Or after I’ve had a few more minutes to think about it. Not quite yet though. 

 

[adonis]

holy smokes i worry that people are putting party before ethics here if you have a picture of yourself in blackface next to a klansman that you picked to be in your medical school yearbook and a dumb quote under it that is more than just a racist thought that ran through your head by any objective measurement its a horrible exercise of judgment and if you decide to run for an office with that in your background you had better be pretty damned upfront about it or you are truly not being honest with the people you want to govern and that to me is also a horrible exercise of judgment and in my mind its fair to ask for someone who would take those two steps to resign from public office they can work on redemption and change all they want but those two items together are disqualifying take that to the bank bromigos 

I thought he was a republican until just a few minutes ago.  Was willing to give him benefit of doubt regardless of party.  

We are at risk of becoming a "crucify him" society.  Ready to throw people on the pyre for wrongs from decades ago.  Maybe sometimes it's warranted, maybe sometimes it's not.  I just worry that we're a trigger-finger society willing to throw away folks who legitimately have changed and grown, along with those who seriously pose a threat.  We don't seem to want to tell the difference.

 

[Shula-holic]

I thought he was a republican until just a few minutes ago.  Was willing to give him benefit of doubt regardless of party.  

We are at risk of becoming a "crucify him" society.  Ready to throw people on the pyre for wrongs from decades ago.  Maybe sometimes it's warranted, maybe sometimes it's not.  I just worry that we're a trigger-finger society willing to throw away folks who legitimately have changed and grown, along with those who seriously pose a threat.  We don't seem to want to tell the difference.

This should be real fun as our politicians evolve into the people who grew up with social media so that there is a record of anything they've ever posted.

 

[GoBirds]

If he somehow survives, the former Florida Secretary of State is gonna want his job back.

Seriously....was there a thread in here for that guy? Curious to see the responses 

 

[dgreen]

I did something similar once. Drew like 20 swastikas a wall once. Was total to cover it up immediately. I was 8 as well. I had seen it on TV or something, but didn't really understand what it meant until a few years later.  

I used to draw swastikas all the time. It was a fun shape to draw. 

 

[SWC]

i dont think this is a crucify them issue i think it is totally reasonable to expect more than this out of those who seek elected offices for all the reasons i have already stated take that to the bank brohan

 

[matttyl]

Then why did you write “good ol PSF”? 

I didn’t....  that wasn’t me.