Washington Post: “In the early stages of the 2020 Democratic presidential contest, one with a historically diverse field, including Booker and Harris as prominent African American candidates, black voters have quickly become a highly-sought-after electoral prize. The courtship is playing out in complex ways throughout the early-voting states, a dynamic that will become more visible Sunday as several candidates appear in Selma, Ala., taking part in a remembrance of Bloody Sunday, when civil rights marchers in 1965 were viciously attacked by police as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge.”
Warren Opens Door to Native American Reparations
“Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Friday evening that Native Americans should be ‘part of the conversation’ on reparations, showing a willingness to expand the debate over whether minority groups that have faced discrimination should be financially compensated by the federal government,” the Washington Post reports.
“Warren is one of four Democratic presidential hopefuls who have said in recent days that they’re open to providing some type of reparations to African Americans who are descendants of people who were enslaved in the United States, although they’ve offered varying levels of details about how the goal would be achieved.”
Tennessee Governor Regrets Attending ‘Old South’ Parties
Four decades removed from his time as a student at Auburn University, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) told the Tennessean he now regrets participating in “Old South” parties with his fraternity.
Said Lee: “I never intentionally acted in an insensitive way, but with the benefit of hindsight, I can see that participating in that was insensitive and I’ve come to regret it.”
Alabama Newspaper Calls for Return of the KKK
The editor of a small-town Alabama newspaper published an editorial calling for “the Ku Klux Klan to night ride again” against “Democrats in the Republican Party and Democrats who are plotting to raise taxes in Alabama,” the Montgomery Advertiser reports.
Writes editor Goodloe Sutton: “If we could get the Klan to go up there and clean out D.C., we’d all been better off.”
Omar Hits Back at Trump
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) responded to President Trump’s call for her resignation by accusing him of having “trafficked in hate your whole life” and questioning when he would learn from his experiences, as Omar said she has, the Washington Post reports.
Said Omar: “I learned from people impacted by my words. When will you?”
Trump Traffics in Same Jewish Stereotypes
“President Trump demanded on Tuesday that a freshman lawmaker from Minnesota resign after she posted tweets deemed anti-Semitic even by fellow Democrats, but those tweets echoed some of the same insinuations about Jews and money that he has trafficked in for years, as a candidate and president,” the New York Times reports.
“Mr. Trump was the latest in a parade of Republicans and Democrats to condemn Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). But the president himself has perpetuated stereotypes of Jews using money to buy political influence or of acting as ‘globalists,’ pulling the levers of power for their own enrichment.”
Kamala Harris Happy to Discuss Race
Politico: “Harris’ decision to sit for extended radio interviews with black hosts at the outset of her run is part of a broader strategy for the half-Jamaican, half-Indian former prosecutor. It’s designed to give her the chance to directly confront the uncomfortable and offensive internet memes about her personal life before they can metastasize among voters, three advisers to Harris said.”
“In recent days, Harris has parried skepticism over everything from claims to her black heritage to her decision to marry a white man — bluntly putting down markers on nuanced topics to help inoculate her from false critiques with answers that also illuminate how she views her own identity.”
Northam Plans ‘Listening Tour’
“As Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam continues to resist calls to step down over the racist photo on his medical school yearbook page, he and his advisers are close to finalizing plans for a statewide ‘listening tour‘ to engage different communities in conversations about race,” BuzzFeed News reports.
“Additionally, a source close to the governor said Northam is telling people privately that if the commonwealth’s legislature puts a bill on his desk that provides the authority to bring down Confederate statues that he would sign it.”
Harris Defends Her ‘Blackness’
Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) “directly confronted critics Monday who have questioned her black heritage, her record incarcerating minorities as a prosecutor and her decision to marry a white man,” CNN reports.
Said Harris: “So I was born in Oakland, and raised in the United States except for the years that I was in high school in Montreal, Canada. And look, this is the same thing they did to Barack. This is not new to us and so I think that we know what they are trying to do.”
She added: “They are trying to do what has been happening over the last two years, which is powerful voices trying to sow hate and division, and so we need to recognize when we’re being played.”
A Third of Americans Say Blackface Is Acceptable
A new Pew Research poll finds 53% of Americans think it is generally unacceptable for a white person to use makeup to darken their skin to appear to be a different race as part of a Halloween costume, including 37% who say this is never acceptable.
Meanwhile, 34% say this is always or sometimes acceptable.
Northam Pledges to Focus on Racial Equity
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) told the Washington Post that he believes there is a higher reason for the “horrific” reckoning in the past week over a racist photograph in his medical school yearbook, and that the humbling experience leaves him better positioned to remain in office, explore the issue of “white privilege” and push an agenda of racial reconciliation.
“Northam seemed chastened and subdued as he described a week of grappling with what it means to be white in America, with the reality of African American history, and with the personal failing of growing up after desegregation and the civil rights era while somehow not realizing that donning blackface is offensive.”
Virginia Attorney General Also Wore Blackface
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D) “said he dressed in blackface during college, elevating the Capitol’s scandals to a new level that engulfed the entire executive branch of government,” the Washington Post reports.
“The acknowledgment comes as Gov. Ralph Northam (D) faces calls for his resignation after a photo emerged on his 1984 medical school yearbook page featuring someone in blackface standing next to someone in Ku Klux Klan robes.”
“And early Monday, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) denied the allegations of a woman who said he sexually assaulted her at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.”
“The scandals suggest a possible constitutional crisis. If Northam should step down, Fairfax would succeed him because of his position as lieutenant governor. Herring, as attorney general, would be next in line.”
Associated Press: “Herring, who plans to run for governor in 2021, is among those who have urged Northam to resign as governor.”
Why Northam Won’t Resign
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) remained in power “but is having a difficult time finding allies, begging his Cabinet members to give him the chance to prove he was not the person pictured in a racist photo that surfaced Friday,” CNN reports.
According to one source, “the governor specifically said that if he resigns, he would be resigning as a ‘racist for life,’ and that the only way he can clear his name is to stay in office and convince people that he is not in that photo and that the photo does not represent who he is.”
Richmond Times Dispatch: “Though Northam has lost the support of virtually his entire party, he appears to have bought himself more time to try to clear his name.”
Democrats Unite In Calling for Northam to Step Aside
James Hohmann: “The deafening chorus demanding Ralph Northam’s resignation suggests that Americans could be on the precipice of a #MeToo moment for racial politics.”
“Many of Northam’s longtime friends and erstwhile allies, including African American leaders and four of his Democratic predecessors as governor, dismissed his pleas for patience and called on him to step aside over a racist photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page. The speed and intensity with which they did so reflects some of the ways that the political culture, nationally and in the South specifically, is changing.”
First Read notes that “nearly the entire Democratic Party” now has called for Northam to resign and “the party is united in demonstrating that it has zero tolerance for any past racist behavior from its politicians.”
Quote of the Day
“This country hasn’t dealt well with issues of race. We have a president who’s a racist.”
— Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), in an interview with NBC News.
Northam Insists He Was Not In Racist Photo
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) “said he is neither of the people in the racist photo that surfaced Friday from a 1984 yearbook from Eastern Virginia Medical School,” the Richmond Times Dispatch reports.
“Northam said he saw the photo, now more than 30 years old, for the first time Friday. After admitting it was him in the photo and apologizing Friday night, Northam said after reflection with his family and talking to former classmates, he now says it was not him in the photo.”
Northam won’t resign, according to the Washington Post, but said “if he felt he wasn’t able to function efficiently as governor, he would re-visit the matter.”
New York Times: “But he may have made his effort to remain in office more difficult by revealing that he had darkened his face with shoe polish in the 1980s at a Michael Jackson-inspired dance party in Texas when he was a young Army officer.”
Newspaper Calls on Northam to Resign
The Richmond Times Dispatch called for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to resign after the revelation of a photo from his medical school yearbook page, showing a man in blackface standing next to someone dressed in Ku Klux Klan robes.
We all act foolishly in our youth. But a college graduate, studying to be a physician, in a state with Virginia’s troubled racial history, should know better than to reduce that history to a callous joke. The photograph reveals a lack of adult judgment that is disturbing. It does not erase Northam’s service in the military or his compassion as a physician. It does, however, strongly suggest that he should, for the good of Virginia, step down from its highest office and allow Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax to succeed him.
Northam Admits Appearing In Racist Yearbook Photo
A photo from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) medical school yearbook shows two men, one in blackface and one in a Ku Klux Klan robe and hood, on the same page as the governor, the Virginian-Pilot reports.
The Washington Post reports Northam acknowledged appearing in the “clearly racist and offensive” photograph.
Said Northam: “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.”
Politico reports the Virginia Republican Party has called on the governor to resign.
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