The Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, has stated that he will not be stepping down from his position after he became embroiled in a racism scandal.
The governor was revealed to have allegedly posed in a racist photo from his medical school yearbook.
He denied dressing in a racist fashion, but he did admit that he dressed up as Michael Jackson while using shoe polish on his face for a dance contest in 1984.
“I am simply asking for the opportunity to demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt that the person I was is not the man I am today,” he said to journalists at the governor’s mansion in Virginia. “I am asking for the opportunity to earn your forgiveness.”
The photo which showed a man in blackface beside someone in a KKK costume has caused a lot of controversy with many calling for the governor to step down.
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Many also believe that he is the man in Blackface, a fact that he initially conceded to, but then later backtracked and said that it wasn’t him.
His about face was weird as it came after the governor claimed to have ‘reflected’ with family members and friends and realized he wasn’t the one in the photo.
He did admit that he had darkened his face another time, this time to dress as the King of pop, Michael Jackson.
“In some ways, my personal history mirrors that of this commonwealth,” Northam said also claiming that he wanted to keep growing.