By Alex Pappas | Fox News
PHOTO: Unsolved mystery - Which one is Governor Northam? The one in blackface or the one in the KKK robe?
Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam apologized Friday
for appearing in a “racist and offensive” photo on his 1984 medical school
yearbook page that showed one man dressed in blackface and another in a KKK
robe.
Northam – who has been under fire this week for comments
made about a third-trimester abortion bill in his state – admitted to being one
of the people in the photo, though it’s not clear which costume he is wearing.
“Earlier today, a website published a photograph of me
from my 1984 medical school yearbook in a costume that is clearly racist and
offensive,” Northam said in a statement.
He added, “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.”
Fox News obtained a copy of the 1984 yearbook page from
the Eastern Virginia Medical School library. Northam graduated from the school
that year. The Virginian-Pilot, the Washington Post and the Richmond
Times-Dispatch also reported they independently confirmed the authenticity
of the page.
The quote on the page says, “There are more old drunks
than old doctors in this world so I think I’ll have another beer.”
Republicans in Virginia said Northam should step down if
he's in the photo.
“Racism has no place in Virginia,” Republican Party of
Virginia chairman Jack Wilson said in a statement. “These pictures are
wholly inappropriate. If Gov. Northam appeared in blackface or dressed in a KKK
robe, he should resign immediately.”
Northam did not respond to those calls. But in his
statement, he said, "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."
“I recognize that it will take time and serious effort to
heal the damage this conduct has caused," Northam said. "I am ready
to do that important work. The first step is to offer my sincerest apology and
to state my absolute commitment to living up to the expectations Virginians set
for me when they elected me to be their governor.”
Earlier on Friday, a conservative website called Big League Politics first posted a photo of the
yearbook page.
The White House took aim at Northam, referencing the
attention Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's high school yearbook received
during his brutal confirmation fight last year.
"This should be easier work than parsing every word
and semicolon in the Kavanaugh yearbook," White House adviser Kellyanne
Conway tweeted Friday.
The newest revelation comes as Northam came under fire Wednesday after he waded into the fight
over a controversial abortion bill that one sponsor said could allow
women to terminate a pregnancy up until the moment before birth -- with critics
saying Northam indicated a child could be killed after birth.
Northam’s troubles began Wednesday when he appeared on
WTOP to discuss The Repeal Act.
Northam, a former pediatric neurologist, was asked about
the sponsor's comments and said he couldn’t speak for Tran, but said that
third-trimester abortions are done with “the consent of obviously the mother,
with consent of the physician, multiple physicians by the way, and it’s done in
cases where there may be severe deformities or there may be a fetus that’s not
viable.”
“So in this particular example if a mother is in labor, I
can tell you exactly what would happen, the infant would be delivered,” Northam
said. “The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated
if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would
ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
The intent of his comments was not clear. But some
conservative commentators and lawmakers took his remarks to mean he was
discussing the possibility of letting a newborn die -- or even
"infanticide."
Northam refused to back down from comments that have
sparked outrage. "I have devoted my life to caring for children and any
insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting," Northam tweeted this
week.
But Republicans aren’t buying his defense.
“What’s shameful is that you're too cowardly to say point
blank that it’s wrong to leave babies to die after birth,” Nebraska Sen. Ben
Sasse said in a statement Thursday. “You could have said that
yesterday. But because you’re terrified of an extremist pro-abortion lobby
that now defends even infanticide, you're still ducking."
Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginia’s
2017 gubernatorial race. During that contest, Democrats tried to link Gillespie to the torch-bearing white
nationalists who infamously marched in Charlottesville. When he won, California
Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted congratulations to Northam.
Last month, Florida's secretary of state resigned after a local newspaper obtained photos of
him dressed in blackface as a Hurricane Katrina victim.
Fox News' Lukas Mikelionis and Adam Shaw
contributed to this report.
