For those of you who aren't aware, some right-wing site uncovered a medical school yearbook page for Virginia's Democratic governor Ralph Northam. This page featured two men in costume, one in blackface, one in KKK robes and hood. Northam confirmed that one of the men was him, but refused to say which one. A whole bunch of Democrats have called on Northam to resign, though both of Virginia's US Senators, while condemning the costume, have not done so. The Virginia legislature has initiated procedings to impeach Northam, though WaPo argues that would be illegal under Virginia's constitution, which has much narrower grounds for impeachment than the US Constitution.
I was initially of two minds here, however the more I think about it, the more convinced I am that he should resign. And while not directly related to this question, I also think it's very likely he ultimately will.
At first, I felt that points in his favor are that this was a long time ago, and I believe people can change, and some of the calls to resign feel really politically opportunistic. Now, I remember when Democrats claimed that Gillibrand, in calling for Al Franken's resignation, was being politically opportunistic. I thought that it might have been, and was definitely premature (though not by much), however I also felt that with so many people excusing the behavior of Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Roy Moore, it was necessary for at least one political party to take a firm stand on sexual harassment and assault; my only question was whether he was really guilty. Here there's no doubt Northam is guilty, and yet this somehow feels even more opportunistic to me. Maybe that's because racist imagery doesn't seem like as pervasive a problem as sexual misconduct, maybe it's because it happened when he was still very young, or maybe it's because the last elections for Virginia legislature are later this year and Northam would definitely be a drag, but initially, calls for him to resign felt more cynical to me than the same ones aimed at Franken.
On the other hand, the photo would have been published when Northam was 24, going on 25. His prefrontal cortex was almost entirely developed. And this photo was taken in 1984; Northam is someone who grew up with the Civil Rights Movement and it's aftermath. I find it very hard to believe that he didn't realize the very problematic history behind those costumes. Then there's the fact that this is coming out now; I feel like there's a good chance Northam would not have won the Democratic nomination, much less the primary, had this come out before his election. I hopped off the fence and started leaning towards him resigning when I read the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus's statement; it seemed to me like I underestimated the emotional impact this has on black Virginians. But the final straw for me is that he refuses to say which costume he was in. It may seem like a trivial point, but he clearly has a problematic past on racial issues, and yet he does not seem to be interested in confronting it. Instead, he seems to want to issue a boilerplate apology and try to shove through it, and that is simply unacceptable.
Still, what do y'all think?