United States. Allegations of racism and sexual abuse trigger political crisis in Virginia – 02/07/2019

A series of scandals tinged with racism and badual badault erupted this week in Virginia and triggered a political crisis that spreads hour by hour as in a domino effectThe three main elected officials of this state – all Democrats – are about to be accused and President Donald Trump seeks to reap income from the chaos that reigns in the opposition.

It all began last week, when a student publication of the 1980s was known, in which the Democratic Party governor, Ralph Northam, would have appeared with the face painted black next to a hooded Ku Klux Klan.

In the United States, makeup to pretend to be African-American (a behavior known here as "blackface") has a huge racist symbolic content as it is so that white artists were painted at the same time. times of slavery to make fun of blacks, caricaturing them as lazy, ignorant or cowardly.

Consulted by ClarinRoger Smith, professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania and president of the American Political Science Association, said that "these cases have occurred because, although Virginia has become a much more inclusive state and egalitarian than before, it was the capital of the former Confederacy and the state of Jim Crow (set of segregationist laws that only came up in 1965). Twentieth century, many of its most privileged white citizens continued to observe customs they considered innocent and with a sense of humor as the "black face", but which were actually rooted in white supremacist celebrations . "

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The governor apologized publicly and the resignation requests worsened, but Northam retracted and said he was not really sure about it. He admitted however to be wearing makeup once to disguise himself as singer Michael Jackson.

Shortly after, Attorney General Mark Herring, also a Democrat, acknowledged in a statement that he had used a makeup and a wig to look like a black rapper at a party at age 19 while 39, he was studying at the University of Virginia. Herring, who had previously recommended to Northam to resign and who ran for governorship in 2021, apologized for this "insensitive" behavior and declared that in the coming days he would communicate when he resigned.

A few hours after Herring's announcement, another serious scandal erupted in Virginia's power dome: Vanessa Tyson issued a document in which she accused Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax of having forced her to indulging in oral bad in a hotel room in 2004 at the Convention. National Democrat in Boston. Tyson, a 42-year-old political scientist at Stanford University who specializes in political discourse on badual badault, said, "I do not have a political motive, I am proudly a Democrat."

Fairfax denied the charges and said the exchange had been made, but the national women's organization called for Fairfax's immediate resignation, saying "its story is scary, compelling and we believe it."

The fate of these three leaders is at stake and the Democratic Party sees this situation with great dismay, because minorities and women are an essential part of their base and want to be able to criticize the behavior of President Trump without seeming hypocritical. That's why the White House president took the opportunity to quibble and tweeted yesterday: "If the three disgraced politicians were Republicans, they would act much more forcefully ".

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Vincent L. Hutchings, a professor of African American studies at the University of Michigan, told Clarin: "I would not be surprised if other cases of politicians from the south, and even from the north, were revealed and involved. in practices similar to "blackface. "The fight against black is a theme that has been spread all over the country since before it was founded."

On the impact that these cases may have on the Democratic Party, Hutchings said that "this remains to be determined, at least it is a responsibility for public relations and image for the Democrats, which are generally described as the party of racial liberalism.To maintain this image, they may have to ask the governor and the attorney general to resign. "