Whether or not Ralph Northam is different from who he was in his younger days, as he claims, the fact is that photos in the yearbook indicate that he was associated with hurtful, racist practices while in medical school or more than likely many years prior to 1984. But, the racist photos do not only expose Northam's hidden life, but it opens the door of curiosity on:
1. A racist culture that was prevalent and apparently acceptable at, of all the places, a medical school!? For a yearbook to be published with such offensive photos of costumes that are associated with hatred of a race without any editorial scrutiny makes one wonder what editorial oversight was in place at the medical school to prevent such hurtful material from being published.
2. The lack of attentiveness in screening this candidate prior to endorsing him to run for governor since proper vetting would have certainly uncovered this yearbook that anyone could have easily gotten a hold of. It shows that no focus was given by his political party associates to digging into the past of a wealthy, white doctor who has now become a total embarrassment to them.
3. The scary thought that any of these doctors dressed in black-face or the KKK hood and robe is attending to Blacks or any minority race patients is very troubling. Moreover, the thought of Northam's graduating class or even other graduating classes from that medical school attending to people of color is frightening at the least.
4. Why Northam would be so clueless and nonchalant about admitting to blackening his face to depict Michael Jackson is mind-boggling. But, then he would not have any clue on the hurt and pain caused by the blackface caricature because he clearly indicated that he is not Black and doesn't know what it means to be Black.
Ralph Northam is the tip of an iceberg of the pain that one group of people have suffered so long after the abolition of slavery. "How long - not long....." is an opening lines from a Dr. Martin Luther King speech as he tried to encourage Blacks that changes would be coming soon. Fifty years later, in a country where racism has once again become the norm in support of the country's leadership policies, sadly Blacks and other people of color have a long, long way to go be "judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin".
