Here’s a fun fact. Megyn Kelly was fired from The TODAY Show after she suggested that going in blackface for Halloween wasn’t such a big deal when she was a kid, and she walked away from that controversy with her entire $69 million contract intact. Not bad.
Gov. Ralph Northam says he’s not taking the easy way out and resigning after photos of students in blackface and a Klan costume appeared on his personal yearbook page, and he too seems to be suggesting that, way back in 1984 in Virginia, practically every white person was doing blackface.
Democrat Ralph Northam suggests that blackface/KKK hoods were "commonplace" in his environment growing up pic.twitter.com/RZtMDhLghZ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) February 2, 2019
It might have been commonplace at East Virginia Medical School:
Another photo in the 1984 EVMS yearbook pictures a man who appears to be in blackface and dressed as a woman with the caption: "who ever thought Diana Ross would make it to Medical School!" https://t.co/ahpjoZhShu pic.twitter.com/0IVMHSthi1
— The Virginian-Pilot (@virginianpilot) February 2, 2019
But others disagree with the idea it was “commonplace” when and where Northam grew up. Keep in mind, dude’s only 59.
This is a total lie. I know Lexington and Norfolk well. The notion that Klan hoods and blackface were "commonplace" is absurd. What a pathetic weasel. #RalphNortham https://t.co/q2Sr6LTcOU
— Mark Davis (@MarkDavis) February 2, 2019
Not in 1984 they weren't!
— Anne ?? (@ARFranco9) February 2, 2019
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Agreed. I live in rural VA and have never once seen or heard Klan hoods or blackface here. "Commonplace" is an outright lie. Who the hell disparages the very state they are elected to govern? By the way, wasn't @PressSec thrown out of a restaurant in Lexington, VA? @RealSaavedra
— Probably Not Erik Erikson's Real Ghost (@eriksonsghost) February 2, 2019
I was in HS here in Dallas then, it would be as appalling then as now! I cant believe it made it into the yearbook either. Unreal
— Twinks (@debadew6) February 2, 2019
He’s a liar. Being from VA and stationed in Norfolk in the 80’s, this was not “commonplace “. It was only “commonplace “ if you were involved in those types of behavior!
— ?? Micah Terry ?? (@micahsr12) February 2, 2019
Commonplace in 1884, not 1984.
— Joshua (@murphy4570) February 2, 2019
Come on, you remember when a few dudes could just grab some beers and chill…unwind after a hard day at school…put on a couple Klan robes and rock out. Totally normal stuff, man.
— Liberty Kicks (@thelibertykicks) February 2, 2019
Really, whose high school didn't have a Wear Your Klan Hood to School Day?
— BattleSwarm (@BattleSwarmBlog) February 2, 2019
I went to college in South Carolina from 1983-1987, lived there until 1996, and I never saw this kind of thing. I also lived in VA and now in GA, never was this commonplace.
— Ken (@furman87) February 2, 2019
Ok I was alive in 1984. Pretty sure everyone knew the KKK was abhorrent Ralph.
— Doug Stafford (@dougstafford) February 2, 2019
Yeah pretty sure being in or dressing like the KKK wasn’t ‘common place’ anywhere in 1984. Not saying it wasn’t present— def wasn’t common. He needs to sit down.
— Dalton Dismukes (@DaltonDismukes) February 2, 2019
In the South, this is when we say: Bless his heart.
— AV (@AllyValentino) February 2, 2019
That's not true, unless he grew up in the Klan. I'm a lifelong southerner, born in 1960. People were not walking around in blackface and KKK robes in 1984.
— Todd Thomas (@ToddTho98583356) February 2, 2019
I live in the Deep South (in the country) outside of New Orleans. In 40 years have never seen one.
— Robert Fouquet (@RobertFouquet) February 2, 2019
In the 80s, I can assure you this was not normal in our neighbourhood.
We had synth pop music, not really any blackface.
— Some random thoughts (@someideasnstuff) February 2, 2019
Remember back in 2013 where there was a mass panic on campus when a student saw a person “in a costume meant to evoke the Ku Klux Klan,” and it later turned out to be another Oberlin student wrapped in a blanket? Or 2015, when the University of Missouri’s student body president freaked everyone out by posting on Facebook that the KKK was confirmed to have been sighted on campus? (They weren’t.)
And then there was the girl who reported a Klan meeting in a classroom, which turned out to be AV equipment like overhead projectors under dust covers.
— Fishy4u (@Fishy4u) February 2, 2019
It was the mid 80s and he was in f-king med school. What???
— Frankie P (@pantangeli) February 2, 2019
Jeez, I thought I was alone. I literally grew up in the Deep South and just slightly younger than the governor. #Blackface just wasn't common. In fact, I've never even seen one and don't know anyone who had.
— Chukwuma Odelugo (@ChukwumaOdelugo) February 2, 2019
In 1984….lying joker
— Derrick Burnette (@dpburnette) February 2, 2019
Um I lived in Virginia in the 80’s and that wasn’t common place
— Battleship Victoria (@nanoflower68) February 2, 2019
Grew up in Virginia, went to college there, spent 30 years in various parts of the state and I never once saw blackface or a kkk hood whether real or otherwise.
— cary angler (@caryangler) February 2, 2019
It was the 80s, not the 60s. Not buying it.
— Rachel ???? (@RaychelTania) February 2, 2019
I grew up in Virginia. Life long resident. Never. Ever. Did I see a KKK hood or black face. It angers me that he’s acting as if it was commonplace in Virginia in the 80’s to do this.
— Elizabeth Matthews (@momof2boys79) February 2, 2019
In the place and time where he grew up … it was.
So basically he’s throwing the Commonwealth of Virginia under the bus.
— Harley Aronson (@HarleyATC) February 2, 2019
So #RalphNortham is trying to poison his entire community now. So his entire high school and all his friends and their families are racists who regularly wore hoods and blackface. Dude is a bigger snake than ever.
— Mongo Slade (@MongoSlade8) February 2, 2019
Related:
WHAT JUST HAPPENED? Michael Jackson dance contest winner Ralph Northam’s moonwalk demo cut short by wife https://t.co/90y3ixR9GK
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 2, 2019
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