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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTruly Torn
I am truly torn over the situation regarding Governor Ralph Northam. I believe that people are capable of change for the better, and that maturity and life experience can lead one to revisit despicable youthful behaviour, denounce that behaviour in later years, and go on to contribute to society as enlightened adults.
While I find it difficult to ignore Northams obvious display of racism in 1984, I also find it difficult to dismiss his change-of-heart since that occurrence.
In this instance, I feel compelled to abide by the decision of those most personally impacted by Northams actions. The NAACP has called for his resignation, and it is people of colour who should be the ultimate arbiters of what they find unacceptable in the same way I, as a woman, am in a position to decide what I find offensive to women.
Given the reaction of my fellow, non-white citizens offended by Northams behaviour, I do believe that he should resign. This is their call, not mine.
All of that being said, what I do not accept is any comment, any opinion, or so much as a peep from any Republican on this topic. The usual GOP spokes-whores are already out in force on the cable news outlets, decrying the fact that were Northam a Republican, the Democrats would be calling for his head on a pike.
The fact is that Democrats have been decrying the words, actions, and policies of the racist-in-chief, Donald Trump, for the past two years cries that the Republican party have ignored while continuing to support, enable, and make excuses for their pResidents blatant racist behaviour.
To hear any Republican weighing-in on the topic of racist behaviour is, at this point, laughable. In addition to Trumps overt racism, there are many GOPers whose blatant racism is a matter of public record along with the Republican partys continued protection of the obviously guilty.
To hear any Republican call for Northams resignation on the basis of his hypocrisy is roll-on-the-floor-laughing material. Exactly where the fuck does the party that accepted the declaration that there were fine people on both sides after Charlottesville get off pointing fingers at the party that denounced the actions of white supremacists and KKK members?
What is mind-boggling is the attempts by Republicans to accuse Democrats of hypocrisy where Northam is concerned, while never acknowledging their own hypocrisy in having elected a homophobic, xenophobic, lying, stupid beyond all imagining, pussy-grabbing, Russian-colluding traitor to the Oval Office while knowing he was all of the above.
The Democrats will sort out the Northam situation and I suspect it will end with his resignation for the good of his party, the good of the state who elected him, and the good of the country.
Until the Republicans are willing to rid their own party of their blatant racists currently holding office, they are in no position to speak to how the fate of Ralph Northam should be decided.
This is beyond people living in glass houses being admonished to not throw stones. It is now a matter of glass-house dwellers being told in no uncertain terms that their new-found outrage is completely contrary to their own behaviour, and that of their pResident.
In summary, the GOP needs to STFU. They are doing the equivalent of marching in the streets with tiki torches, shouting anti-black/anti-Semitic slogans, while screaming that its the Democrats who need to step up to the plate and denounce racism and anti-Semitism.
When the Republicans call for the resignation of their own racists, their own anti-Semites, their own homophobes, their own xenophobes, their own haters of every non-white immigrant, every trans-gender member of the military, every non-Christian, every disabled American, every woman demanding her rights, and every American who has realized they have been played by promises of middle-class tax cuts, they will be in a position to call on Democrats to do the same.
That day has yet to dawn. And until that day arrives, the Republicans can take their hypocrisy and shove it up their respective asses. The only people listening to the GOP on the subject of racism are the racists among them.
no_hypocrisy
(46,310 posts)be allowed to hold office?
Virginia is a purple state, not blue.
When I lived in Amherst County in the 80s, the county administration building still had two bathrooms per gender with duct tape covering "colored" and "white". Families still buried their kin in segregated cemeteries. You didn't see mixed races at the supermarket or downtown stores.
While not literally everyone was racist, it was still a lifestyle and a way of life. Like a watered-down Jim Crow.
Doesn't make it right but it doesn't disqualify anyone over 25 to hold office either.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)The NCAAP is calling for him to resign. In the absence of counteracting African American opinion, his resigning is best for his state and the country. He most likely now is a good man, but he made a horridly insensitive decision as a 25 year old, there were many costumes that he could have worn that would not have been insulting and insensitive. Did the culture that he grew up in and was likely still steeped in as a 25 year old contribute to his choice, very likely yes. It is an emotional call, just like the call on Al Franken was, but in the end, we either have standards as a party or we don't.
Will this keep people from running for office? No, I don't think so, there are men and women who never dressed up in racially insensitive costumes, who never made suggestive remarks about the opposite sex of harassed them or abused them or paid them less than they others doing the same jobs were paid. Those people will know that and run for office with a clear record. It will send a message to high schoolers and college kids that one day want to become democratic politicians that they must be aware of their conduct and decisions that they are making in real time. I think that it makes our party and country stronger.
My guess, Northam resigns on Saturday. The Republican Party in Virginia has one of it's elected members that made a racist statement about an American who was born from immigrant parents. How that party deals with that representative will be informative, but should not impact the decision that our party is making about Northam.
Doitnow
(1,103 posts)as long as there is one single possible decent candidate left in Virginia, he should be last on the list to be considered as a candidate. For all I know, Gov. N. could be a closet Rethug posing as a Dem. This is how suspicious we have become of any former sympathizer of disreputable character. Never to be trusted and never to be given the honor of holding public office. His admission and then his denial of being in the photo, and then his refusal to leave office just sounds SO trump-like.
Cha
(298,035 posts)Gothmog
(145,881 posts)Stonepounder
(4,033 posts)People change. If we are going to call for every politician who has any kind of skeleton in the closet, we not going to get good government.
How many members of DU have something in their past they are ashamed of, something that they really would not like the world to know about? I know I certainly do.
Go read a biography of Sen. Robert Byrd, who started as a KKK member and ended up a champion for Civil rights, saying that his association with the KKK was the biggest mistake of his life. Byrd served for over 50 years in the US Senate.
dalton99a
(81,707 posts)the foul-mouthed bigot who gave us the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act.
FormerOstrich
(2,704 posts)His words and actions during W atoned for anything he had done in his past.
I know now I was wrong. Intolerance had no place in America. I apologized a thousand times and I dont mind apologizing over and over again. I cant erase what happened.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)It's the hypocrisy of the GOP that is the issue here. They are in no position to weigh in on this given the deep racism within their own party.
Maru Kitteh
(28,345 posts)Oh hell no. He's got to vacate. I don't give a flying fuck about the GOP, I care about US, and our integrity. He must go.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)I haven't. I am too embarrassed to.
I was an idiot until I was about 26. I said and did things that make me cringe. Hard. I haven't hopped up onto a stump to publicly recite my sins.
Having said that, he is clearly a liability now and should resign. But make no mistake.... the message is that there is no redemption. If you've every done a shitty thing, that stain remains forever, no matter what you believe or do now.
McKim
(2,412 posts)I think we should hold public officials to a higher standard. Standards are slipping for sure in this country with Trump breaking all the laws, ethical standards and customs in his presidency. I think that when a person aspires to leadership they should be an example to all. Black face in the 1980s is not an acceptable background for a public official. End of story!
malaise
(269,286 posts)Rec
JHB
(37,166 posts)...or rather, any of several things that might be the right thing, and he hasn't done any of them. In fact, he's backtracking. I think my "forgiveness factor" is off of "defer to his black constituents" and has moved on to "dropping like an anvil."
As for Republicans, it's like you said:
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Were living in an alternate universe where everything is the opposite of what it used to be. Racism, hate, lying, caging children, misogyny, criminal activity have taken the place of simple human decency. Its bizarre. Humans have evolved through time the hard way. They struggled and evolved complex brains to think, not just to act out of instinct. Now suddenly were de-evolving, losing whatever it is that made us higher than other primates.
Its so utterly weird!
DallasNE
(7,404 posts)What he did in 1984 is indefensible. That is not in question. But what is the appropriate response. I kind of kick the can down the road too by deferring to what our African-American friends are saying in large measure. It is complex and not limited to what this one man did. What about the medical school that allowed such a photograph to be put in their yearbook. What do they have to say about their participation.
My first instinct was to say I'm torn but leaning toward resignation. But I recognize that people can turn things around and use the example of Prince Harry being photographed wearing a Nazi uniform and how he has turned his life around.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11761053
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11764629
treestar
(82,383 posts)especially when they allow person s who violate their own tenets to take office.
Democrats at least have that the gov. violated our values.