CBS “This Morning” anchor Gayle King pressed Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam to explain why he wore blackface in the 1980s and how he didn’t know that it was offensive during an interview that aired Monday morning.
“What have you learned that you didn’t know before?” King asked.
“Well several things,” he responded. “Starting with I was born in white privilege and that has implications to it. It is much different the way a white person such as myself is — is treated in this country versus–”
“Did you not know that you were born into white privilege?” King said.
“I knew I was, Ms. King, but I didn’t realize really the powerful implications of that,” he said. “And again talking to a lot of friends that has come crystal clear to me this week. I have also learned why the use of blackface is so offensive, and yes I knew it in the past. But reality has really set in.”
Throughout the interview, King pressed Northam, a Democrat, on how it was possible that he didn’t know that blackface was offensive when he was in college.
When asked if he had black friends growing up, Northam said he attended unsegregated schools since sixth grade.
“Which makes it even harder for us to understand, you had black friends or grew up with black people, so it would seem you would be more sensitive or more aware of that,” she said.
“I don’t have any excuses for what I did in my early life,” he said.
.@GovernorVA @RalphNortham says he’s “not going anywhere.” He plans to stay in office, in spite of a racist photo printed in his medical school yearbook.@gayleking sat down with the Democratic governor who still faces calls to resign: https://t.co/jcCcmmkENi pic.twitter.com/B6ORmlihhv
— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) February 11, 2019
Let us be clear: Northam ran for Governor in 2018 in the Commonwealth of Virginia: a state steeped in the maelstrom of
race relations throughout its entire history. He gained the overwhelming support of Blacks in that state after countless interactions and conversations with African-American individuals and groups over the course of his campaign, and it only occurred him over the past weekend that his white privilege is real, and that racial insensitivity is a dangerously unacceptable thing? Come on, now!
Cut this guy some slack. We all did dumb shit as kids. The crowd I ran with in high school did what at the time was sort of innocuous in our minds, just the usual hijinks while pursuing some thrills and a good time. Yet a couple kids pulling the some stunts today would lead the damned nightly local news. Today’s scandals were just boys being boys in the 60s and 70s.
“I went to a desegregated school” is not nearly the same thing as having black friends. I hope the broader interview doesn’t let that pass. I mean, I went to a school with oth girls and boys, but it would be a huge stretch to call the relationships I had with almost all females (especially during the ages he’s talking about) as “friendship.” Mostly they were a puzzle.
Desegregation especially in Virginia during that time frame was a very contentious issue. The kids were most definitely not “well I guess we’re in school together now, let’s hang out, hey sorry about that whole “separate but equal” nonsense.”
Northam was voted into office by a majority of Virginians. What happened 35 years ago wasn’t criminal. It’s up to the citizens of VA only to decide his fate. Apparently he has decent support in polls. Time to move on, IMO.