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An investigation into Governor Ralph Northam’s yearbook at Eastern Virginia Medical School could not conclude whether the Democrat was in a photo of a person in blackface.
The image, which surfaced in February and appears in the 1984 yearbook on Northam’s personal page, features a person in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit at a costume party. Initially, Northam apologized for the photo, but he later said he could not conclusively say it was him in the photograph. Northam, who faced mass calls to resign, later said he did dress in blackface once at a dance contest in college in which he imitated Michael Jackson. The revelation shook other college administrators, who were forced to confront their institutions' own racist histories.
EVMS released a report it commissioned on the yearbook on Wednesday. The investigation was led by Richard Cullen, a senior partner at the law firm McGuireWoods.
Investigators couldn’t find evidence that anyone erred in placing the photo on Northam’s page. They also found 10 other photographs featuring blackface in all the EVMS yearbooks they investigated.
“Their publication was hurtful, particularly to the African American community and to our campus community,” Dr. Richard V. Homan, president and provost of EVMS and dean of the School of Medicine, said in a statement. “It should never have happened.”
“Unless we face this fact head-on, this bias and racism will not abate. Uncomfortable silence only perpetuates these problems. We must engage in direct conversations, even if they are uncomfortable, even if they are difficult. Notwithstanding, talking is not enough.”
