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and Bill Clinton

The American people have once again rejected liberalism. So Much For the Blue Wave

because of this board... it will be very hard for me to support a Democratic candidate.

d of course, Porterfield said all this in response to a law that would make LGBTQ discrimination legal in cities that had passed laws making it illegal.

Just short of a year before his death in a plane crash, then-Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan found himself in much the same situation that Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam does today.

In his 20s, the Democrat Carnahan had appeared in blackface performing a minstrel show, Carnahan acknowledged in 1999, at age 65. He did not resign, and in November 2000, Carnahan posthumously defeated John Ashcroft for the U.S. Senate three weeks after dying in a plane crash.

Carnahan accused Ashcroft of racism when Ashcroft opposed a federal judgeship for Ronnie White, the first black Missouri Supreme Court justice. The Carnahan-in-blackface photos appeared, and Carnahan blamed Republicans for distributing them.

“I feel like I’ve grown,” Carnahan said then. “I certainly regret my participation in this kind of theater, and I sincerely and readily apologize.”

It wasn’t forgotten. The blackface history ended up in Carnahan’s obituaries.

But the Democratic governor was forgiven enough to remain in office, a testament to how differently we now view the sins of past race relations.

Like Northam, Carnahan argued that his public life — appointing African-Americans to key positions and favoring civil rights advances — was atonement for past sins.

Then-Rep. Bill Clay, a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus, defended Carnahan in 1999 as a “progressive” on civil rights...............

..........The question now is whether, like in Carnahan’s case, enough people will accept Northam’s explanation that while he did offensive and regrettable things as a young man, that he has paid penance in his private and public life since then, and that as a sinner who has seen the light he could help lead to more healing than if he simply went away.............

..........In his memoir, Byrd apologized and denounced his past acts, much as Northam has.

“It has emerged throughout my life to haunt and embarrass me and has taught me in a very graphic way what one major mistake can do to one’s life, career, and reputation,” Byrd wrote.

But Democrats forgave him, pointing to the lessons of his conversion to espousing racial equality............

he beat out ashcroft for Missouri Governor after he died.

20 years before Northam's blackface scandal, Missouri's Carnahan survived a similar disclosure





talks about Robert Byrd as well

Two of the three government staffers to Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and two employees of his political action committee resigned following news Friday of a second sexual assault allegation against him.

The PAC employees who left are Dave Mills, who was the executive director of We Rise Together, and Courtney McCargo, a fundraiser for the PAC.

Mills is the husband of state Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Richmond, who is considered a strong contender to replace Fairfax as lieutenant governor should Fairfax resign.

On the government side, Adele McClure, the policy director, resigned, as did Julia Billingsly, the scheduling director.

Lauren Burke, Fairfax's communications director, remains employed by his PAC and Larry Roberts, his chief of staff, remains on as a state employee.

The job of lieutenant governor is part time. Fairfax is a lawyer at the firm Morrison & Foerster, which has placed him on paid leave.

This is a developing story.

Rotfl

Northam says he's learned implications of being 'born in white privilege' since racist photo controversy - CNN

Rotfl

Northam says he's learned implications of being 'born in white privilege' since racist photo controversy - CNN

Backing in Academe for Fairfax’s First Accuser

Recent days have seen hundreds of political scientists rally behind Vanessa Tyson, the Scripps professor who first came forward with a public accusation about Fairfax. She says that he assaulted her in 2004, when they both were in Boston at the Democratic National Convention. (Fairfax has repeatedly denied this accusation.)

Hundreds of professors have signed a statement drafted by the Women's Caucus for Political Science and #MeTooPoliSci.

Tyson "is known throughout the discipline for her willingness to stand up on behalf of the vulnerable, including early-career women, LGBTQ scholars, and scholars of color, and she has spent many years advocating for survivors of sexual violence," the statement says.

The statement added that "we write as political scientists to remind those listening that the status quo favors power and privilege. In addition to being political scientists, many of us are also scholars of the politics of race, gender, and sexuality, and as such, we recognize the all-too-familiar tropes that are being deployed to try to shame, silence, and delegitimize Dr. Tyson."

The statement also said, "As scholars we also know that decades of empirical evidence make clear that problems with reporting sexual violence are ones of under-reporting, not of fabrication, and that rates of reporting are particularly low for women of color. This evidence makes clear as well that people who report sexual assault stand to gain nothing and, in fact, risk a great deal. Vanessa has fought hard to carve out a career as a woman of color in academia. She has been incredibly successful, not only in terms of her external successes -- as a tenured faculty member and the author of an important book -- but more importantly, on her own terms. She has served as a mentor to many junior scholars and made a name for herself as what Representative Shirley Chisholm described so evocatively as an 'unbought and unbossed' person. Such a woman would not risk her career and reputation for anything less than a grave injustice. We therefore trust her when she says that a grave injustice has been committed."

..........In his first interview since the scandal erupted, a chastened Northam told The Washington Post on Saturday that the uproar has pushed him to confront the state's deep and lingering divisions over race, as well as his own insensitivity. But he said that reflection has convinced him that, by remaining in office, he can work to resolve them.

"It's obvious from what happened this week that we still have a lot of work to do," Northam said in the interview, conducted at the governor's mansion. "There are still some very deep wounds in Virginia, and especially in the area of equity."

Northam said he planned to work for the rest of his term to address issues stemming from inequality, including improving access to health care, housing, and transportation..........

........The question isn’t whether Northam stays or leaves, but how he repents. If he says he will focus on racial reconciliation, he must name specific policies to address systemic racism & say how he will protect the black citizens of Union Hill.......

The American people have once again rejected liberalism. So Much For the Blue Wave

because of this board... it will be very hard for me to support a Democratic candidate.

Yeah. So, look, we can all opine on his fate, that is what MBs are for. Besides the motions of atoms and empty space.

MHO is the opinions that really matter are the voters of Virginia and how they feel, and in this case, particularly A-A voters of Virginia.

If they feel he can stay, it's not my place to second guess them. I do know the Legislative Black Caucus of VA has said he should step down, also the NAACP IIRC.

..............On Feb. 19, former vice president Al Gore and the Rev. William Barber II, leader of the Moral Mondays movement in North Carolina, will be at Union Hill to talk about what is happening there and why that compressor station should be stopped.

So come to Union Hill, Mr. Northam. Join us on the 19th. As Mr. Barber put it on Twitter, “if Northam can’t begin w/ protecting the African-American Union Hill community from present day environmental racism, then his claim to desire reconciliation is hollow. Action must precede reconciliation.”