RICHMOND, Va., Feb. 5 (Reuters) – Virginia governor Ralph Northam resisted Tuesday calls to retreat in front of a racist picture on his 1984 medical yearbook page with the leading Latin-American Democratic organization American joining the choir
The Democratic party in the first term was shot on Friday when a conservative media site published the photo, showing a black-faced person standing next to a masked person wearing the dress white of the white supremacism group, the Ku Klux Klan. [19659002] Northam, who has been avoiding the public since Saturday, has faced almost universal calls to part with his own party in Virginia – considered a key state for the 2020 presidential election – as well as at least five Democratic candidates for the presidency.
Monique Alcala, chair of the Democratic Liberal caucus in Virginia, is the latest to have urged Northam to resign. In a phone interview, she stated that she thought that Northam 's political record showed that he was not racist, but that he should resign because he had lost the money. moral authority to lead.
15 PHOTOS
Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam [Virginie]. 19659008] View Gallery
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, left, gestures while his wife, Pam, listens at a news conference at the Governors Mansion at the Capitol in Richmond, Va. Saturday, February 2, 2019. Northam is under fire for a racial photo that appeared in his university yearbook. (AP Photo / Steve Helber)
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam takes a break at a press conference in the Governor's House in Richmond, VA, on Saturday, February 2, 2019. Answering Calls On a general resignation, Northam promised Saturday to remain in place after disavowing a racist photograph published under his name in his 1984 yearbook of medical school. (Bob Brown / Richmond Times-AP Dispatch)
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, left, accompanied by his wife, Pam, speaks at a press conference in the governor's residence at Richmond, Virginia, Saturday, February 2, 2019. Northam is under fire for criticism for a racial photo published in its university directory. (AP Photo / Steve Helber)
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam takes a break during a press conference in the Governor's House in Richmond, Va., On Saturday, February 2, 2019. Northam is under fire 39, a racial picture published in his college directory. (AP Photo / Steve Helber)
ALEXANDRIA, VA – MAY 21: Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, Democratic candidate for governor of Virginia, attends an American-sponsored candidates forum for responsible solutions at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town on Sunday May. March 21, 2017 in Alexandria, Virginia. (Photo by Matt McClain / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Former US President Barack Obama is campaigning for Virginia's lieutenant governor, Ralph Northam, Democratic nominee for the governorship, at the same time. a rally with supporters in Richmond, Virginia, United States, October 19, 2017. REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst
Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, who wishes to be elected governor of the state, and his wife Pam voted at the East Ocean View Community Center in Norfolk, Virginia, on November 7, 2017. REUTERS / Julia Rendleman
FAIRFAX, VA – APRIL 29: Tom Perriello, left, shakes Ralph Northam's hand at the beginning of the event. Candidates for Democratic Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam and Tom Perriello held their first debate on Saturday, April 29, 2017 at Lanier Middle School in Fairfax, Virginia. (Photo by Sarah L. Neighbor / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, VA – MARCH 8: Virginia Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam visits Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport to visit Airport workers on Wednesday, March 08, 2017 in Arlington, VIRGINIA. (Photo of Matt McClain / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES – JULY 25: Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, left, and Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, applaud the Wells Fargo Center floor at Philadelphia, Pa., On the first day of the Democratic National Convention, July 25, 2016. (Photo by Tom Williams / QC Roll Call)
Ralph Northam (right) is sworn in as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Retired by Judge Glen Tyler, Richmond, VA, January 11, 2014. This ceremony marks the first time in a quarter of a century that Democrats will occupy the three most important elected positions in the state: governor, lieutenant- Governor and Attorney General. REUTERS / Mike Theiler (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICS)
FALLS CHURCH, VA – OCTOBER 19: Hillary Rodham Clinton, center right in red, supports the Democratic record while she supports the candidate for the post of Virginia governor, Terry McAuliffe, at the far right a Women's Rally for Terry on October 19, 2013 in Falls Church, VA. Pictured are Senators Mark Herring, Ralph Northam, Clinton and McAuliffe. (Photo by Bill O 'Leary / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
UNITED STATES – JULY 25: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, left, and Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam, take a selfie on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the first day of the Democratic National Convention, July 25, 2016. (Photo by Tom Williams / QC Roll Call)
ARLINGTON, VA – MAY 2:
Ralph Northam welcomes his supporters in front of a place where progressive and union groups from across the Commonwealth are hosting a forum for him and his other candidate, Tom Perriello, to discuss the 2017 Virginia Governor's Run on May 2, 2017 in Arlington, CA. Virginia.
(Photo by Bill O. Leary / The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Virginia Elected Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe (D), celebrates with Lieutenant-Governor Elect Ralph Northam (left) at the Demonstration for Election Victory at Night at Tyson's Corner, Va. November 5, 2013. McAuliffe defeated Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli at the Virginia Governor's election in Virginia. REUTERS / Gary Cameron (UNITED STATES – Tags: POLITICAL ELECTIONS)
HIDE CAPTION
SHOW CAPTION
"In matters of equity and justice, you really have to trust the community, which really broke that trust, "she says.
Northam, 59, a white man, initially apologized on Friday, saying he was one of two people in the photo. He changed stories a day later, claiming that he was not appearing on the photo but had dressed in blackface at a dance competition held that year. to represent pop star Michael Jackson.
The origins of Blackface date back to nineteenth-century minstrel shows. in which white artists covered their faces with thick black paint to caricature of slaves.
Northam, who took office a year ago, is committed to completing his four-year term. With no public fanfare on Tuesday, he quietly signed a law to provide $ 750 million in financial incentives to Amazon.com Inc. in return for the giant's online promise to create 38,000 new jobs in Virginia.
Northam is also surrounded by advisors and cabinet members His political heir, 39-year-old lieutenant-governor Justin Fairfax, was confronted with a potential scandal.
Fairfax denied Monday a sexual assault allegation reported against him on the same website as the one who first revealed the photo of the Northam Yearbook. The Big League Politics website on Sunday released a private message on Facebook, apparently obtained from the accuser with the permission of a friend, suggesting that Fairfax had assaulted him at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. in Boston. The publication on Facebook did not explicitly name Fairfax, but the history of the website linked it to the allegation.
Fairfax acknowledged Monday that it had had a consensual meeting with the woman in 2004, but said that the story of the assault was "totally fabricated". 19659002] At least two media, including the Washington Post, reported that a woman had approached them more than a year ago with the same allegation, but that they had not been able to justify his story.
Fairfax was not committed on April 25. The future of Northam, claiming that it was up to the governor to decide his decision, but that he would be ready to intervene if necessary.
If Northam resigned, Fairfax would succeed him to become the second African American governor of Virginia's history, where his great-great-great-grandfather was a slave. The first was Douglas Wilder, a Democrat elected in 1989.
If Fairfax were also to step down, then Democrat Attorney General Mark Herring would be the next to become governor. Herring, who has declared his intention to run for the highest office of his country in the next governorship race in 2021, on Saturday called Northam to resign and pledged his "full support" to Fairfax. (Report by Gary Robertson in Richmond, additional report by Jonathan Allen in New York, edited by Scott Malone, Bill Trott and Cynthia Osterman)
More Aol.com :
Governor of Virginia meets cabinet amid pressure to resign
The Governor of Virginia denies being in a picture of the racist yearbook
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez launches a warning to anonymous bigots flooding her office with calls
