Virginia author’s investigative effort to expose Governor Ralph Northam’s yearbook scandal – Shore Daily News, #Virginia #authors #investigative #effort #uncover #Governor #Ralph #Northams #yearbook #scandal #inconclusive #Shore #Daily #News Welcome to OLASMEDIA TV NEWSThis is what we have for you today:
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia author’s research effort to trace the origin of a racist photo on Ralph Northam’s yearbook page at Ralph Northam’s medical school has ended undecided, according to the author, who has written a book with new details about the 2019 scandal.
“Of course I would have liked to know who exactly was in the photo. And I did my best for it,” Margaret Edds, a retired journalist and author of “What the Eyes Can’t See,” told The Associated Press ahead of the book’s release in November.
While Edds — like journalists and two groups of law firm investigators before her — couldn’t come up with a definitive answer about the photo of one person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan costume, her 296-page book offers a glimpse behind the scenes. screens. scenes look at the turmoil the image caused. The book chronicles Northam’s decision to remain in office despite enormous pressure, as well as the steps he took to become better informed about the legacy of racism, restore his reputation and work with black leaders to focus his government. on racial justice.
Northam participated in 14 interviews for the book, a digital review copy of which was provided to AP by The University of South Carolina Press. “What the Eyes Can’t See” is also based on interviews with Northam’s wife, Pam Northam, staffers, consultants, friends and officials, plus documents and concurrent news reports.
Mark Bergman, a longtime political adviser to Northam and one of those interviewed, said Northam participated because he believed the book would serve as “the final word on what his service was about”. Northam, who returned to work as a pediatric neurologist after leaving in January, declined comment via Bergman.
The photo surfaced in 2019 when a conservative political website published it, while Northam was embroiled in controversy over comments he made about late-term abortion. The image appeared along with three photos showing Northam on his personal page in the 1984 Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook.
Northam initially apologized for being in the photo without saying who he was. Then he turned off course and said he wasn’t actually in the photo. The move did not initially suppress widespread calls for his resignation. But Virginia’s 73rd governor refused to resign, and the pressure eased after the state’s two other top Democratic officials became mired in their own controversies.
Northam went on to preside over an undeniably transformative tenure as Democrats took full control of the state government in the 2019 election cycle. Northam would sign bills that made Virginia a progressive outlier in the South — including legalizing marijuana, abolishing the death penalty, and expanding gun control. Northam also ordered the removal of a historic statue of General Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s Historically Recognized Monument Avenue. He participated in the opening of the time capsules found in the pedestal.
She also captured the chaos of the first news, including the reactions of several high-profile Democratic leaders. The book examines Northam’s response to the lack of support, as well as his efforts to regain the trust of fellow Democrats. It weaves in chapters of Virginia’s history, as well as Northam’s, exploring his family tree and formative parts of his childhood on the East Coast of Virginia. In it, Northam acknowledges specific instances where he believes white privilege has boosted his career.
As for the photo, Edds may not have discovered who was in it, but she did manage to get the editor of the yearbook—who had previously avoided reporters and researchers—to open it.
Northam may have had the most integrated childhood of any Virginia governor, initially seeing himself as someone who “didn’t see race,” Edds said.
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