Quite a few current physicians from that medical school know who those two guys in the picture are. Why do we not know their names yet?
These are the tales we tell ourselves in a modern "Civilized" America. We were racist long ago but now we have learned. We were racist not that long ago but now we know better. We were racist a short time ago but now we realize our moral deficit and we apologize. The vestiges of slavery,Jim Crow, lynchings and segregation are still with us. Our refusal as a people and a nation to honestly deal with this issue. To properly and honestly report on the real history of America. To tell the truth about who actually built that "Bright shining city on a hill".This shortfall in our mass reality about who we are as a nation has taken us to this shameful point.The White men in Blackface in this yearbook are all college educated and are in the final years of medical school. The excuse of "I did not know any better" cannot be used. It horrifies me personally to think that these people are all now out in the world somewhere practicing medicine. They are displaying the obvious belief that Black people are less than human. It really puts the statistic of the terrible health and medical disparities and outcomes for African Americans into a clearer and proper prospective."Primum non nocere" First do no harm. I hope the graduates of Eastern Virginia Medical School are now being properly informed that this part of the oath applies to Black people too.
160
When black face minstrel shows started in the 1830s, they were produced in order to demean and make fun of black people. The first recorded black-face minstrel character developed by a white man (Thomas Rice) was named "Jim Crow." I think that VMS knew of, and tolerated, a racist student culture. The school has produced thousands of physicians that brought that cultural sense of entitlement and racism (and sexism) into the examining room with them. I wonder how many non-white patients have received inadequate medical care as a result.
76
There is, of course, no doubt that blackface is wrong. And the Ku Klux Klan is so far over the top wrong is totally inadequate to describe it.
BUT.
Ralph Northham has a long record on which to be judged. It is a record of doing what I believe the the right and just thing. Is record in public service in support of all people,especially the least among his fellow Virginians is unparalleled.
So in the words of Rabbi Hillel, don't do to him what you would not want done to you.
Further, consider the record of another southerner who actually was a member of the KKK in his youth. Hugo Black went on to be one of the most progressive senators and one of two or three greatest champions of civil liberties to ever sit on the Supreme Court.
Finally, consider what you say when you insist that we forgive a murderer or professional criminal who has served his / her sentence but have no mercy for Ralph Northam.
Think.
513
He who is without sin shall cast the first stone.
Was it wrong? Yes. Has anyone condemning this ever done anything wrong or something that they regret? I would venture to say that 99% have.
Is Ralph Northam a racist? If so, and you would have him removed for that, then 85% of the GOP would have to go as well.
I am not a racist. I find racism abhorrent. However, in 50 years I have said some terrible things. Now, should the entirety of my life be excoriated because of a few times when I said something untoward? Because I, at times, used bad judgement?
Be very careful that you are not looking for and expecting politicians who have spent their entire life in 100% purity, because those people are some of the most dangerous people on the planet. - Think ISIS. And all of the other religious zealots throughout history.
Racism IS NOT a photograph. Or blackface. Or any of this other stuff. Racism is a state of mind in which you think you are superior to someone else simply because of the color of your skin.
Donald Trump is a racist.
So, do we remove people from the Virginia legislature because of a photograph that's in incredibly bad taste, yet allow a known racist to sit in the Oval Office? To inhabit the most powerful office in the world?
Donald Trump consistently makes racist comments. But, he gets a pass from the GOP for political expediency. Heck, he and his father were even charged with red-lining back in the 1970's.
So, please. Let's all keep some perspective on this.
580
So it turns out that Megyn Kelly was right - for a larger than thought segment of educated white people being in black face was normal, and their idea of fun.
53
As an African-American, I would never think of painting my face white if I were imitating Mick Jagger at a costume party--now or "way back" in 1984. Mr. Elwood needs to realize that 1984 was not a long time ago when it comes to black face being inappropriate. As a child my father did not allow me to watch movies or tv shows with such images and I am 68 years old like Mr. Elwood! Whether the governor needs to be fired is one issue but the inappropriateness of his behavior is another; he should not be excused and needs to make amends. Maybe a very large donation to the African-American Museum.
60
I went to private high school in Norfolk Virginia about ten years earlier and I don't remember a single instance of blackface. As I recall it would have been considered very poor taste. This must have been unique to EVMS, which was a new school at the time, recently founded. My brother went to MCV in Richmond and I never heard of such things.
28
It's fair to say that this sort of behavior _shouldn't_ have been happening in the 1980's because everyone knew better, but apparently it was happening and on a broader scale than we want to believe. I've only lived in Virginia for a couple of years, but I've noticed there are still a lot of confederate flags flying and about every fourth man is named Robert. As in E. Lee.
31
I'm a total nerd. I "socialized apart" from the cheerleaders and the "cool kids." This is what happens to normal people. Not just people who have different skin colors.
15
The context and mores of the time are important. As is the question of intent.
I've heard a lot of homophobic slurs in my lifetime (I'm gay). Most weren't specifically directed at me. I always ask myself if the comments are intended to be malicious, or are they just made in ignorance? It's normally the latter, and I don't get too worked up over it. On the other hand, I tend not to forget, either.
Of course, as a white person I'm aware that I've frequently exercised privilege and done/said things that have caused others to make similar assessments of me. Nobody is perfect.
The photo on the governor's yearbook page is shocking. He must be one of those two people, either in blackface or in KKK robes. My initial reaction was that he should resign. But then I read of his exemplary career as a physician and military officer, and of the actions he has taken as governor to help the African-American community. Don't those count more than foolish college antics? It's not that long ago when the question would be if a southern governor had been an ACTUAL klansman, after all.
Unfortunately the entire situation in Virginia is clouded by partisan maneuvering. Democrats were quick to dump Northam when it appeared the Lt Gov was a viable successor. But now that there are credible sexual assault charges against him, watch the party go quiet. They weren't silent when it was a GOP supreme court pick. Hypocrisy reigns on both sides of the aisle.
141
Perhaps Mr. Eligon can apologize for implying that the "man wearing a sombrero and a woman in Japanese attire at what seemed to be a costume party" were not Mexican or Japanese without explicitly stating that they weren't. Are we to assume that all men and women are white, unless stated otherwise?
33
The endless media obsession with what exactly was, or was not, on one page of a 35 year old college yearbook (and with how consistent or inconsistent or unconvincing or problematic are the latter-day explanations of the subject of that page) has one significant impact towering above all others: To further benefit, assist, protect and distract from the most incompetent, corrupt and unfit US president of all time, who is clearly more racist than that yearbook subject, and a thousand times more shameful, dangerous and destructive than any US governor.
118
I went to college in the south during the 1980s, and in those days there was a lot of insensitivity toward minorities. Not blatant -- I do not recall any parties or newspaper or yearbook photos with students in blackface -- but just an sense of minorities being invisible. There also was a lot of sexism, rampant that was. People say it was the times, but then there was no support if anyone did speak up. Have times changed? Yes and no.
18
What possessed these men? The insensitivity is mind-boggling. Were they channeling Al Jolson?
8
In the mid-60s I was a graduate student at Duke. UCLA came to Cameron. Lew Alcindor/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was on the team and the fans sang Dixie for the entire second half.
20
I'm a proud Iowan, but I have to say that it annoys me that others refer to us as a flyover state, assume that everyone in Iowa supports Steve King (not so!), grows corn and lives near a grain elevator. Stereotypes are everywhere, mostly the result of ignorance, provincialism, or simple lack of thought. Stereotypes like these are not the same as racism, but they come, to some extent, from the same places. Maybe we all need to walk in one another's shoes more often than we do and think before we speak -- or act. I have no opinion about whether Northam should resign. It's too complex an issue, and he is the only one who knows what's in his heart.
55
My son enjoys watching his Netflix. Following along the benign hilarity, I'm surprised by the number of kids shows in which minority characters affect their speech with exaggerated accents. One show features an Indian protagonist with an awfully painful accent while another features an Asian school aide with equally inappropriate caricatured speech. The tradition of "blackface" or false accents in minority characters "enjoys" a long tradition in "entertainment". I bring this up because I think these teaching moments expand the conversation in intersectional ways.
49
If you cannot come to terms with your past then you will continue to be haunted by it.
We all have so much to learn, it seems though that few of us even try to learn.
We want people to change but when they do, we want to hold them accountable for their earlier actions. No one can win--hello, Kevin Hart.
28
I'm still trying to wrap my head around this: when the new college president realized how offensive some of the entries in the 2013 yearbook were, he decided to do away with the yearbook altogether. Whatever happened to the teachable moment? I guess the new president determined that these graduating medical professionals could not learn about what is considered offensive? That is a deplorable situation indeed.
21
If people want to socialize apart, that is their right. The PC police should not be telling people with whom they should spend their private time. Will they next be choosing spouses for us?
27
As the saying goes: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Or get worse: check out who’s sitting in the oval office.
22
Good Lord! It seems to me that we need to dial back the sanctimony and to focus our outrage at its rightful target. I have no idea what's contained on my yearbook pages, but I'm not 100% confident that I'd be proud of it today.
I have no political aspirations, but I'd hate to think that an indiscretion during my youth would bar me from public service for the rest of my life. We all have our flaws; every single last one of us. In time, many of us outgrow them.
That doesn't mean that we should tolerate a walking, talking 24/7 flaw in the White House. But if we insist upon doing so, let's at least cut some slack for the individuals who seem to have turned their lives toward greater understanding, integrity and decency.
187
"Eastern Virginia Medical School: shocking images pop up, too. Ku Klux Klan attire on one page. Confederate outfits on another."
And this is a surprise? Virginia was a Condensate state; one of a number of states where residents complain bitterly that removal of Confederate statues is an attempt to deprive them of their heritage.
10
I used to do puppet shows for elementary school kids about marine life education. And I had each animal have a different accent. I had one of the parents say I offended her because my puppet spoke with a Japanese accent. As a Caucasian I had no right to put on that accent and it was a mockery. I pointed out to her that I also had my other puppets speak with a Spanish accent, one that sounded like Dracula, and another with an Irish accent. I wanted diversity with the voices.
She was okay if I changed it to a Chinese accent. I requested if she could help me stylize a Chinese accent. she told me to watch Jackie Chan movies.
To this day I do not understand why this woman was offended by my puppet voice with a Japanese accent but she was not offended by all the other cultural accents I did. What did I miss? I just made all my puppets with deep or child baby voices from that time on. Zero accents.
If anyone reads my comment please reply.
62
“It was done as part of a dress up, being somebody you’re not. It was not done as some kind of racial thing.”
Everything in America is "some kind of racial thing". America is built on racism. White people need to start understanding this.
“I hate that people take something that happened 35 years ago and put 2019 values on. Values and politics and perceptions have changed since then.”
I look back on my earlier life and am ashamed of many of my youthful indiscretions. This is not "putting 2019 values on" the past; it is understanding the truth of the past on the basis of my accumulated experience and mature moral judgement. I may end up forgiving myself, but I certainly don't just shrug and say, "Oh well, I saw things differently back then".
The facile notion that the past should be sheltered from all criticism leads directly to the most obscene moral relativism and leaves us with precisely zero reasons to continue to hold our present values. If you don't think that what you're doing is right, then what the he'll are you doing?
The fact is that this squeamishness about condemning past wrongs is utterly self-interested and entirely devoid of concern for justice.
23
How on earth could he validly claim to not have seen the photos on his own yearbook page in his own yearbook? That, and saying it was him, then claiming that it's not. Sounds super fishy to me.
If people in these situations would only own up to their actions and apologize in good faith, most people would probably forgive and forget for something that was so long ago (assuming that they haven't continued to do racist things). Telling lies doesn't do them any good.
12
I graduated from college in 1984. There were people that dressed up as Michael Jackson and other black entertainers for Halloween, using blackface, and I suspect I would not have thought of it as offensive then if it was not done in a mocking way.
A KKK outfit? I would have been appalled and disgusted. Minstrel outfits? Mocking people? Everyone would have known that it was racist, even then.
It is important not to judge people by standards that did not exist at the time - but it is equally important not to overlook the fact that some things (the KKK) have always been offensive (intentionally). Mocking people by race was certainly considered offensive in 1984. Cultural appropriation, I think it's fair to say, was not, and merely dressing up as a person of another race and darkening your skin as part of the costume was, in my recollection, very close to the line, but not necessarily over it in everyone's view - though I now understand that it was. I'm honestly not sure whether I think you can judge someone as evil for not understanding then what pretty much no white people understood if subsequent conduct makes clear that you've gotten the message subsequently.
22
while professionaly In Kenya and Tanzania, I, a European, often found myself to be the only light skinned person in a particular shop, room or one of only a few in a social gathering. Although light skinned persons tended to congregate. I have never had the feeling that I was or we were being discriminated nfor having light skin or for joining other light skinned person‘s if I did not know anyone else in the room. And yes, we often joked about each other’s skin color and no one took offense. When I have been in the United States I have also noticed that in social gatherings dark skinned people who previously did not know each other tend to congregate. In both situations, people who recognize that they have something in common congregate. Skin color and possible other geographic or similar cultural backgrounds are possible and help develop the acquaintance. When Americans iof any shade of skin find themselves in a room together in a foreign country, they congregate, regardless of skin color. I therefore wonder at what point a certain group begins to be or feel discriminated against, such as in a University. When does discrimination set in? Does the minority separate itself from the majority, or does the majority reject the minority.
22
Having briefly worked there in 2014 let me defend EVMS. Their mission was founded on providing family practitioners to the state of Virginia. I can’t speak to what was going on in 1984, but I found the residents, medical students and faculty to be professional and respectful of all patients and family members.
28
“The practice of letting students run a yearbook unsupervised should have just been shut down,” he said. I understand where Dr. Rawls is coming from but these students were adults not teenagers. If they couldn't be bothered to understand why having those photographs in any yearbook was offensive that's not anyone's fault but theirs.
Fast forward to 2019 and yes, things have changed. However, these students were responsible for what they put on their personal pages. Should they apologize? Yes. Why? Because they are older and, we hope, wiser about how such things make others feel. There's nothing wrong with being immature or making a mistake. There's a lot wrong with lying about it or trying to minimize it when it's truly offensive to others.
On a personal level we've all done things that were immature and we wish we could take back. But if we're in the public spotlight and someone finds them and then publicizes them we should simply apologize. We can even say that we were a lot younger then and didn't know any better although I do find it hard to believe that these men didn't know better.
What this points up is that the more we segregate into like minded groups the less we know about how others might feel. If we want to succeed in life we do need to understand the impact our actions and statements can have outside our own circle. Trump doesn't need to build a wall: the wall is alive and well in our socioeconomic structures.
28
This was the New South? What does carry a whiff of the Kavanaugh narrative is the sense that there were a lot of well to do Southern white boys living in an insulated bubble of smug privilege. Now, I have read that some med students have been on such a treadmill since high school that they miss many rights of passage, and are somewhat emotionally naive. But how does that excuse careless cruelty?
40
Northam's background is middle-class, not well-to-do. From Wikipedia: 'As a teenager, Northam worked on a ferry and as a deckhand on fishing charters; he also worked on a neighbor's farm and as a rocery store stock boy. He attended desegregated public schools and graduated from Onancock High School, where his class was predominately African American.'
18
I believe that ALL politicians have a private life and a public life, private beliefs and public positions . Many are not in sync, many may be in true opposition. What counts, in my opinion, are the public positions. These will determine the laws and the execution and enforcement of the laws. Many policians change public opinions yearly depending on polls and lobbying, with the aim to be elected. I say: judge by the public positions and public actions.
34
I was raised in a small town in Michigan where each year the grownups put on a minstrel show with blackface in our school auditorium. That was in the 40s, and it was very entertaining then and well attended. I was a little boy then and went to 2 or 3 of the shows. Given my tender age and the fact that it was about 70 years ago, I think most people wouldn't hold it against me. But cultural mores are changing so rapidly and race has become so paramount, I'm sure that if I were a public figure someone would try to make a big deal out of it and try to brand me a racist.
31
@Mrs. Proudie In the 1940s and 50s, the few local blacks who resided there, lived outside the township limits of my SW Michigan small town.
@Mrs. Proudie, do you get though that even as your community was enjoying the seeming simple entertainment of blackface, that entertainment compounded the view that black people were inferior, unequal, and mere jokes to be laughed at and both directly and indirectly continued a system of degradation on the community. So the 2019 judgement you would receive is more a judgement of the community you were raised in and the ongoing repercussions being felt by the black community due, in part, to the "innocent" racism so deeply embedded in white communities in this country. We are divided because of the trauma but also because of the un-reconciled abusiveness ingrained in white people in this country. Both the trauma and the abuser needs continued healing.
8
@Mrs. Proudie If you did not acknowledge now, given what you now know, that it was offensive to your black neighbors and colleagues, and if you continued to insist that they shouldn't be offended and should just let you have your fun (and that they are engaging in "identity politics" if they don't agree with you), then yes. If not, I suspect people would just note that people generally were racist back then, and that we hope that as they knew better, they did better.
8
I graduated form U of North Carolina medical school in 1980. It was an integrated class and I was unaware of any antagonism between races in the faculty or other students. I would have been shocked and appalled if someone had worn blackface or a KKK robe to a party, as would most of my colleagues. Saying this happened in the 1980's is not an excuse. We had all been through the Civil Rights movement by then and were not ignorant of the offensiveness of white robes and hoods.
81
@Jon Tolins totally agree. I graduated from college in the 80's and no way would my school but any black face or KKK depictions in its yearbook. Not everyone was unenlightened during that time.
The fact that these people became doctors makes me cringe. I can probably guess correctly that many of these graduates purposely denied giving quality care to minorities, whom they didn't think worthy.
6
As elected and high-profile public figures scramble to look through all of their yearbooks, pictures and news reports going back many years, those of us of a certain age and older are thrilled to have grown up prior to the internet and digital photography. There was lots that no one has a record of that could take down many folks if everything you ever did was held against you for life.
Of course it is not good, and it did not just happen in Virginia or in the South generally. But as our current President has shown, something as inconvenient as an audio record of sexual assault, being accused by multiple women of actual assault, and adultery is okay, but stupid white privilege and racism is not okay to serve.
15
"I didn't know," is never an excuse. It is often used as an excuse or explanation of rude or bad behavior. When children say " I didn't know," as an excuse for bad behavior, any good parent would say "Well, now you know and don't ever do that again." Consistency and followup is required to make sure that that particular behavior is extinguished. Good parents know that phrase "I didn't know" for what it is; an excuse.
We in America are still excusing racism. We can't allow excuses which don't allow us to confront racist behavior for what it is.
13
@Marjorie Eldridge - I'm glad you know cause I sure don't know. I'm a white female artist with a passion for textiles and natural materials. When there was a parade a few years ago on a street with a Native American name, I put together a costume of suede, rabbit fur, rawhide, feathers and other natural materials, and wore face paint. Not redface, but angular lines like war paint, which I absolutely love. The costumery was original, one-of-a-kind, but unquestionably Native American in inspiration and effect. I've also worn my favorite vintage kimonos to an annual Japanese Festival. Not full-on geisha costumery, but as casual jackets. Nobody has ever frowned, and my intent is loving admiration for these cultures and gratitude for the creative inspiration they've given me over the years. But would you call it "racist behavior" that needs to be extinguished?
20
@Marjorie Eldridge
It's not racism. It was a joke that fell flat. He didn't endorse the Klan and wasn't a member. He had someone dress up in a Klan suit to be an object of ridicule, or perhaps to suggest that former enemies might reconcile.
6
Are there steps being taken to pull federal funding from this Jim Crow School of Medicine aka Eastern Virginia Medical School?
8
@Kurt Pickard
I wouldn't be so fast to throw stones, unless you've checked out the medical schools in your secessionist State. And I doubt if Southern Congressmen/women or Senators are interested in an investigation of the medical schools in their States!
14
@Kurt Pickard
EVMS is certainly not a JimCrow institution! It’s a well respected medical school.
I find all of this so disheartening.
I agree with Dr Elwood’s statement:
“I hate that people take something that happened 35 years ago and put 2019 values on,” he said. “Values and politics and perceptions have changed since then.”
I don’t think anyone should dress up in black face, but should a lapse in judgement 35 years ago cause us to loose a good governor who has lived a life demonstrating good democratic values.
18
This is why, as long as his actions in the past ten-twenty years are not racist, I don’t think the Governor should leave. Unfortunately this is part of OUR past and we can take this as an opening to discuss it and make ours a “more perfect union”.
68
Wasn’t this what got Megan Kelly fired
12
actually she was fired for expressing an opinion very much being expressed here today, get over it, it was 30 years ago.
7
Excellent point. It really demonstrates the double standard of blaming women but excusing men for the same thing.
11
I think she just asked the question as to whether blackface is always wrong, or if there are instances where it is not demeaning and could be acceptable. She never wore blackface herself.
6
What strikes me is that the editor of the yearbook or even the Dean did not object to these photos being published.
Especially in the editor's case, this means that this was acceptable to them.
22
Whoa...a whole lotta self righteous people out there. We MUST allow for the fact that people grow and mature, become more enlightened. We have ALL done something we now regret. Something we still feel shame over. Something we would NEVER do again.
181
@Urban.Warrior That doesn't mean things aren't worthy of punishment and shame. There is no statute of limitations for those.
13
@Eric
Is there is a statute of limitations for redemption?
28
At some point the pendulum will swing back again, perhaps as soon as next year. Then what you are writing now may be held against you.
Are you willing to live by those same rules?
10
No one thinks the photo nor blackface costumes are a good idea. That is not the sole issue we should focus on.
The photo became a public payback to the governor by anti-abortionists. They achieved their goal.
Now a duly elected governor, Secretary of State, and lieutenant governor all face losing the jobs they were elected to do because of the fallout and manipulation of the public. The implications for democracy are stunning.
343
The idea that these were fond, if mischievous, memories from college would be bad enough, but we are talking about doctors-in-training. Can a doctor raised in an academic culture that tolerates casual post-Jim Crow racism come through that and still give equal care, understanding, and support to all patients? This would be true of any graduate profession, but most others have no equivalent to the Hippocratic Oath.
Do these doctors enter patient care still harboring prejudices that may subconsciously impact their professional care and treatment choices? Could this help explain the differences in life outcomes for whites versus people of color?
28
@Allfolks Equal this is the question I've been asking. To me there's little doubt these future doctors consciously or sub-consciously denied quality medical care to African Americans and minorities based on their actions and their own medical school's bad culture. People don't flip their biases off and on like a light switch.
4
I attended a deep South medical school from 1962-64.I never saw anything like this in the
Yearbooks of those years.There was a great deal of racism in the student body and the racial climate of the state included murders
Of prominent african american activists and civil rights workers.I would not consider Eastern Virginia Medical school elite at all.In VirginiaUVA is the elite school.DrS
10
@Idelvis
The School of Medicine at UVa is outstanding, but is no better than the Medical College of Virginia at VCU or the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.
You could look it up.
Sadly, not much has changed since 1984. At many colleges, African-American students continue to have their own social groups, sometimes by choice but other times because they do not feel comfortable mixing with white dominant clubs, fraternities, and sororities. Overt racism has diminished over the years but make no mistake, racism still exists. Charlottesville was no anomaly.
18
the problem is always with the cover up. If Northam had just said I was behaving in a way, in a culture that found nothing wrong with it, and as I matured and saw a larger world around me I regret. I changed. I raised my children differently. I live differently.
I played cowboys and Indians- the Indians were always the bad guys.
I was in a first grade production called Way Down South, singing and staging American folks songs, like Jimmy Crack corn, She'll be coming around the mountain. Having a loud voice, Iwas the announcer. They made me a mamie, others were southern belles. They put black face on my face and arms. very uncomfortable with a shabby skirt and top, all in a fashionable suburb outside NYC in 1957.
25
This is what the largest slave holder in Albemarle County, Thomas Jefferson, had to say: "... Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion has drawn indelible lines of distinction between them." Eastern Virginia Medical School student yearbook seems to agree with Jefferson.
3
There are plenty of us white folks the same age as Mr. Northam and older who knew then and now that wearing black face or KKK robes was demeaning to black people. It really is more a matter of how you were raised and your family's values. Although I grew up in the south, my family didn't share the prejudices of our community. As a result I didn't do stuff like this or tell "n" jokes like the other white kids.
36
I'm torn on this. I'm thinking these costumes were not overt statements of racism, but simple cluelessness that they would offend which one could argue is racist. However, not sure how anyone, in 1984, would think a photo of a person in black face standing next to a person in a KKK hood wasn't offensive. On the other hand, I went to a costume party in college as a geisha. Now I'm wondering, based on this article, if that was offensive.
I guess what I'm asking is if there degrees of racism such that cluelessness is somehow better than a pre-meditated action to offend.
21
@JMM White elite men in power do not need your sympathy, they need to held accountable.
12
This political correctness has gone too far and has crossed over into the realm of the ridiculous. It's mentioned in the article that the yearbook contained a picture of a woman in Japanese attire. Heaven forbid! When I was in college I went to a costume party dressed as an American Indian, and I'm not planning to apologize to anyone. My friend was dressed as a surfer, should she apologize to surfers? Should little African-American girls not dress up as Cinderella for Halloween, is that cultural appropriation too? Should little boys in China not dress up as cowboys, lest they offend wranglers in Wyoming? Give. Me. A. Break.
300
I went to high school and college in majority white institutions in Virginia and have many friends who attended EVMS. Let me tell you, there was something extremely visceral about being a black college student and seeing a pre-med classmate in blackface at a Halloween party.
I was confused and very conflicted. What they were doing felt wrong. At the same time, I was reluctant to conclude prejudice or intent to antagonize black students because I knew the person well.
He/she ended up changing the blackface aspect of the costume after some time due to unwanted attention—turns out you can look like [insert black artist] without blackface.
What I realized that night (and as I reflect on this incident) is that a part of the problem is straight up IGNORANCE. People just don't understand how it affects other people. It's living in an environment where these kinds of actions are never challenged or examined.
When you have spent your first 20 years in small towns with your cultural, racial, and social make-up/values, you seldom arrive to college or med school with a nuanced worldview.
Don’t get me wrong, there are people who do offensive, racist, sexist, & homophobic things with pure contempt for others.
But collective outrage and a “burn-them-at-the-stake” approach ignores some of nuance in these issues. To prevent these kinds of incidents, we need to understand why they happen. That requires digging a little deeper.
321
@ATD
Judgement is way easier and quicker than understanding, and once it starts prevents understanding.
25
This is another example of how the internet amplifies trolling and promoted troll behavior. The web has become a proving-ground for destroying people and brands. The negatives are accentuated way beyond control. The gift of publishing to the masses comes with great irresponsibility. Also given that the Dems will eat their own children to prove a point, there is a guaranteed slam-dunk.
Chalk up one for the republicans.
36
So near the end of this piece we learn from the black doctors that "... school administrators created a welcoming environment. And they appreciated the school's mission to encourage doctors to work in primary care, helping underserved communities..." Was that an editorial mistake by the Times as it completely contradicts the Times' on-going narrative that the school was a hotbed of racism and vile racists. One would never know it from our "woke" herd media that Governor Northam did indeed serve those underserved communities. Certainly not the career path one would assume a racist would choose. It's also curious that that same "woke" herd - media, political and academic - who immediately demanded Governor Northam's resignation are strangely silent or at best ambivalent about the recent sexual assault accusations against Lt. Governor Fairfax. Aren't these the same folks who - based on a single individual's over thirty year old memory - fell over each other in their competition to be the most vitriolic and virtuous in calling for the head of Brett Kavanaugh? Why the double standard? (And I'm no fan of Kavanaugh.) Could it just possibly be because Northam and Kavanaugh happen to be white and Fairfax black? If anyone has a rationale for this blatant hypocrisy that doesn't pass the laugh test I'd love to hear it.
21
I would not want everything I did in my twenties in the 70s publicized. I am absolutely against racism, but as long as someone hasn't committed a violent act, we need to step back and be a little forgiving. For the picture to even be permitted to be in a yearbook shows that it was a different time and place. That would not happen now. We need to look at the man and what he has done with his life. It isn't fair to condemn a person for the rest of his/her life for a stupid act in their youth.
75
I can easily take the "slavery" mug as a play on the very understandable concept that the med students spent years "slaving" away, rather than a comment on the pre-1860 treatment of blacks.
65
'The use of blackface, he said, came down to context and the prevailing attitudes of the time.
“I hate that people take something that happened 35 years ago and put 2019 values on,” he said. “Values and politics and perceptions have changed since then.”'
Wow - the amazing cluelessness of these people is impressive indeed. Blackface has ALWAYS been regarded as offensive to black Americans, unless you were white and entitled and just didn't care what anyone thought.
I'm going to say that this is "Virginian exceptionalism" at its best, where the good ol' boys of the Commonwealth must be excused because it's their "culture"!
8
What's amazing is that these privileged young white men, given the freedom to edit their own magazine, immediately took that freedom to express racism.
Not humanism.
Not universal rights.
Not solidarity with the poor and the suffering.
Not Jesus Christ.
Not drugs.
Not rock n roll.
Not Vietnam.
Not folk music.
Nothing cutting edge. Nothing edgy.
They took the immense liberties afforded them by the richest democracy of this world, born into privilege with privilege awaiting them once they graduated, to kick down on the more unfortunate, to express their hostility towards people who had done nothing to them, people they - in their lily white enclaves - had probably never even come in contact with.
And these are the same white men who are in charge of our nation, of our hospitals, of our universities, Supreme Courts, high schools, colleges, businesses.
21
Anyone with decency or an ounce of empathy knew this was wrong 35 years ago and this goes beyond being insensitive.
This was raw arrogant in your face racism that made it clear they knew the black students couldn't do any thing about it. They never imagined a time when they would be held accountable for their actions and that's also behind the get over it comments.
This isn't about forgiveness or redemption, this is still about power. They can resign while seeking redemption. They wont because going back to when they first paraded around in blackface they can't imagine ever having to answer to black people and that is true of their supporters. It was true then, it's true now and shows how deeply ingrained racism and privilege is embedded in America.
16
@Hellen this was a wonderful and thoughtful response, I agree wholeheartedly. Redemption would mean ceding power and it is something he is clearly uninterested in doing. Voters will remember.
6
@Eric
Remember what? Virginia governors can’t run for re-election.
2
I am amazed at how blithely people respond with 'that was a long time ago' and 'that was then.' Perhaps they should try to understand that that was them. It never occurred to a lot of us that blackness was not a easy source for parody. At all. Never occurred to us. You just might consider how deeply imbedded racism is in your soul.
4
This nonsense was being done at a taxpayer supported school no less.
2
It is this way it is still. Fine for everyone to socialize with who they want - it shouldn’t be any otter way - but hopefully what’s changed is the use/okayness of blackface and kkk regalia.
3
what sort of modern professional medical school even has a junior-high style yearbook-didn't northam falsely accuse ed Gillespie of racism even though there was no evidence anywhere that he did or said anything racist in nature?
4
Oh for Pete's sake, this Northam yearbook photo is not "abhorrent" and "evil."
At root it's well-intentioned fun and astoundingly juvenile.
Folks: Look. Look what's in their hands. They're holding cans of beer!
It's a dumb goofy moment that tries to celebrate how beer beer beer sudsy beer builds bridges across the greatest divides. Or something like that.
They're in costume! It's not real. That's not a real member of the KKK standing there. And the other guy isn't a real anything.
It's as if Alec Baldwin dressed up as Donald Trump and Donald Trump dressed up as Alec Baldwin and they took a selfie together with intertwined arms chugging each other's brewski.
Now what is absolutely astonishing to us living far from the Commonwealth is that this is how they play-act there! Holy moly. I hope they've stopped that.
Should Governor Northam resign? How about whole state of Virginia resigns!
31
@RLS
Except that KKK members murdered innocent black people, and this is a southern, former slave state.
15
Young white men in their white coats in an all almost entirely white bastion of privilege. And not 1774 nor even 1884 but 1984. This is the USA,
4
The comments suggesting that this is just the way it was, are horrifying. We knew better in 1984--no excuses for this behavior. It was racist then and now. The disgusting arrogance of these men--and we wonder why there are such different medical outcomes for people of color.
7
This article's second paragraph refers to Eastern Virginia Medical School as an "elite" school. In fact, EVMS accepted its first class of students in 1973, just 11 years before Dr. Northam graduated. It was a stand-alone institution, unaffiliated with a university or any community of higher learning. [There now are tenuous program attachments to Old Dominion University and to the College of William & Mary.] I can't imagine why Mr. Eligon would consider it "elite" for this article.
5
@a href=
The criteria for getting into any U.S. based medical school, then as now, is so stringent that the accepted students were sure to have been elite students at their undergraduate institutions- that makes it elite in my mind.
3
@a href=
Very important points. Press coverage of matters like this one demonstrates very little sociological perspective.
2
“Woman in a Japanese costume...”
First of all, what does that even mean? If it means a kimono, does the writer know that in Japan, stores will rent kimonos to foreign tourists to wear?
This is why the entire “cultural appropriation” debate is misguided: It flattens everything so that Blackface (a practice with clear racist, hateful roots) becomes the equivalent of wearing a kimono.
143
The Virginia AG has just admitted that he also wore blackface as an undergraduate at a college party. Where will this end? Will there be a Stalin era purge or do we move forward from this quagmire together?
23
Has anyone heard of Al Jolson?
I grew up watching his regular performances in blackface on national television.
Times change and so do people with them.
Where is the sense of redemption here?
8
@Envone Jolson died in 1950, so it's not like he was doing "regular performances" on national television. Jolson's legacy is quite different and more complicated than Northam's. And as you point out, times change. Thus, no right thinking person would wear blackface in the 80s and think that it was all frat boy fun. Or make excuses for it in 2019.
4
It could be considered, "sad", that people are defending this man's action many decades ago, but I believe we are getting very tired of this "victim" mentality. OF COURSE I would never wear KKK outfit at my age. But 30yrs ago I said all kinds of bad things about all kinds of nationalities. I'm Mexican American and I heard all kinds of insults aimed at me. Most insults where said in jest by my friends and family. The rest?, Who cares!!!
10
The second biggest surprise about the nauseating photo, other than how it got approval to appear in the yearbook in the first place (in 1954, maybe--and it would have been an embarrassment then--but 1984?), is that so far no right wing wag has claimed it's actually Bill and Hillary's wedding photo.
8
What do you mean by "half a page?" Are you saying that the yearbook staff was free to fill the rest of the page with their own content?
2
What if a transgender undocumented asylum seeker who is bipolar with chronic anxiety [fear of deportation] wore blackface? What would the social progressive outrage be the same as Northam?
9
In the early 1960's I scanned pages in a medical college year book. A picture of a smiling young doctor sitting with a smiling heavyset black woman patient caught my eye. "Happiness is a 300 pound SNIF" was written below it. I asked a doctor for the meaning of "SNIF." He answered, "Single Negro Indigent Female."
I was shocked and confused as I pondered the implications of that cruel picture and disrespectful caption. Yet, I said nothing, did nothing. I like to think I was too young and awed by the world of white-men-in-white-coats. Truth is, I did not SEE their privilege, or mine. I had not begun to question much of anything. I did not understand what was going on.
Facts: Racist white privilege caused great unfairness and pain of all kinds for people of color. Today the economic disadvantage of the past persists for them. White people had an overwhelming, cruel head start. Some people want to maintain unfair advantage.
We can't truly walk a mile in another's shoes. We can work to learn, to better understand. R-E-S-P-E-C-T for people of color is many hundreds of years overdue.
I will vote for candidates who demonstrate respect and insight into the challenges facing people from differing backgrounds. I will not support anyone who is rude and uncivil. To me it indicates a lack of compassion, bad judgement, arrogance, and low character.
10
Where's the apology from the school? 1984 seems awfully late in the game to be publishing racist garbage. And, oh by the way, would you go to a doctor whose goal is to drink more beer?
2
While we discuss the racial insensitivity and bigotry of blackface, we have a president who was sued for housing discrimination against African Americans.
A president who took out a full page newspaper ad claiming that the exonerated black men accused of attacking a white woman in Central Park should be given the death penalty.
And of course Donald Trump pushed the hateful birther conspiracy against our country's first African American president, Barack Obama.
If we're going to rid our government of racists let's start at the top. And we can't let one party take the high road while the other isn't held accountable.
129
“Black students from Mr. Northam’s era recalled a divided campus in which they and their white classmates sat in class together but largely socialized apart.”
Ummmm...self-segregation is just as commonplace today as it was back then. Every where you go you see that. The vast majority of blacks, whites, and other races congregate with people of their own race. Whites alone are not responsible for socializing apart, as what that seems to be suggesting.
And wearing a sombrero or dressing in Japanese attire does not in any way scream “racist” to me. Nor does a coffee mug the carried the logo of, “We can’t get fired! Slaves have to be sold,” have anything to do with being a racist. I have said that before working at one of my jobs. The point being a joke that you’re worked like a slave so you can’t be fired. Please stop trying to make everything under the sun as being racist. Racist people are from every aspect of our society. It is not white people alone. Blacks are just as racist as whites. The news is quick to condemn a white nationalist such as Richard Spencer but does not call out someone like the “Reverend” Al Sharpton who is one of the most blatantly racist individuals I have ever seen. Racism is a disease that needs to be eradicated, but stories such as this only help to reinforce its presence. Racial harmony can only be achieved when all people work together to end it and stop blaming one race for it.
19
@David Parchert My friend, pick up a sociology book or a better yet one on critical race theory and you'll realize that there is no such thing as "reverse racism". Whether you realize it or not, you're trying to hold on to your privilege and invalidating the legitimate and very real concerns of minorities. Check out economic indices across the board and you'll also realize just how disadvantaged minorities are in real economic and social terms.
You can afford to see this as horsing around or just a joke because you're a privileged white American. White people held black people's heads under the water for literally centuries and then "freed them" to the elements without any economic base. Racial and ethnic minorities are within their right to hold power to accountability and fight for their rights.
It amazed me how white people believe that the self-advocacy of minority groups can only ever be achieved at their expense. There's nothing wrong with advocating for your rights and the rights of people with your same ethnic background -- that's the soul of black nationalism.
What is actually wrong is proudly believing that your race is inherently superior to other races. What's wrong is openly and actively attempting to harm other cultural groups with no goal other than to marginalize, disempower, and eradicate. What's wrong is seeking power and control over people of other ethnicities, religions, or sexual orientation -- that's white supremacy.
1
What's up with the witch-hunt? And what about The New York Times obsession with race?
Different times, different mentality; it's time to move on and make sure it'll never happen again.
15
"In 1984 alone, besides the picture on Mr. Northam’s page of a man in blackface posing next to someone in a K.K.K. robe, there were at least two other images of blackface in other parts of the yearbook. There was also a picture of a man wearing a sombrero and a woman in Japanese attire at what seemed to be a costume party."
Oh, the depravity.
This is 35 years ago. Meanwhile Sarah Jeong's racist tweets from the supposedly more enlightened era of 2014 earned her a position on the NYT editorial board. Liberal hypocrisy.
21
Would an NYT or Virginia newsper reporter explain why the yearbook photo wasn't unearthed before Northam's election? Seems like a breakdown in basic journalism.
8
Why aren’t graduates of Eastern Virginia Medical School and the University of Virginia being called out for not stopping such displays at the time nor making them public long before now? Silence equals acceptance.
3
Old white guy. Went to college and grad school in the deep South in the 70's and 80's.
Deeply saddened by the "everybody did it back then, can't apply current standards to that time" thread running through this story. Amazing how every thing about those statements is false.
I have no doubt that somewhere on my campus there were white guys in black-face at this party or the other, but among the circle of folks I called friends back then it was not the norm or even common place. I may be miss-remembering, but in all the parties (and there were more than a few), costume or otherwise, blackface wasn't a part of our repertoire. Was that circle as inclusive as it could have been even by 1980 standards? Probably not, but the sentiments for inclusion and friendship are not time bound and I hope I am doing better in that regard today than I was yesterday, no matter how long ago yesterday might be...
10
Mandela got it right. We have to find a way to bury our ghosts, or they will haunt us forever.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is not the only model, but it worked for them.
11
Some of Mr. Northam’s fellow students thought these photos were OK. With that in mind, I can’t imagine what their bedside manner must be like.
1
This a great article, but I'm really surprised at the reaction that it is receiving. It seems that people don't realize the degree to which we all live our own reality. Some of us were enlightened back then and some of us were not. Insensitivity and racism are not necessarily the same thing, and many of these students, with attitudes that were undoubtedly steeped in the racist South, probably had never had any real co-equal encounters with individuals outside of their own race. As someone who grew up white in the South in the 60's and 70's I'm well aware that oblivious students may have just considered such dress to be a slightly risque getup at a fun costume party, while others felt it ripped the scab from an old deep wound.
My jury is still out on what Northam should do. I was heartened by the initial apology that he offered in taking responsibility and somewhat chagrined when he walked some of it back. It doesn't matter if he was one of the men pictured in the photo, it's still on his page. He presumably knew about it and let it stand. No one then was trying to derail a future political career so in some way it must represent who he was, at least insofar as the impression he gave colleagues. I do know that this is a good dialog to be having. If he can own it and somehow use the remainder of his time toward furthering an understanding it will be well worth having him stay. We can only swallow these ugly truths and move passed them if we are open about them.
17
I went to medical school in the mid 80’sand while I wasn’t perfect I can’t recall a single person dressed in black face at my school. I helped photograph and edit the yearbook my junior and senior years.
7
@Dawn Back in High School, in the 1960s for our talent show, we lip-synched and danced to a Temptations song. We were in matching suits and looked good, but no one even suggested going with blackface.
1
The best solution to the future of the yearbook would have been to teach a course on the genetic and social construction of race instead of eliminating the yearbook. It is now and was then a teachable moment. Doctors should know the latest points of view and the history of the thinking on race. The classes should be interracial of course.
3
Looking more and more like some conservative group digging up past dirt to get Democrats out of office. Now the AG of Virginia is under scrutiny. No surprise that the next in line after the Attorney General is the Speaker of the House, a Republican.
13
@BillyBob Johnson I'm not sure it's a Republican v. Democrat thing. I read or heard that the person who dropped a dime on Northam is one of his medical school classmates who was upset about Northam's recently announced position on abortions.
2
@Mrs. Proudie it’s republicans. They are riling up their base, in addition to knowing that the new high moral ground stance of the Democrats will have the alleged offenders kicked to the curb. And if someome raisies issues with the next-in-line Republican, they will cry witch hunt! All the way to the swearing in, because they don’t care what skeletons are in their closets.
4
So many years have passed, so much has changed, so much remains the same, and yet needs to change. Racial attitudes, racial agglomerations in housing, social clubs, schools remains strong. My daughters went to an exclusive private school in Cincinnati in the 1980s, There were a few token blacks. Today the whites and blacks have gone their separate ways. The same goes for my son who attended the finest public high school in Ohio, one of the best in the nation. A better black:white ratio but little mixing as the years go by. My two grandsons recently graduated from the same school. Their report—blacks and whites largely stuck to their own, little real social mixing. Of course so few lived in the same neighborhoods.
In my early years as a lawyer in the late 70s I had a great client, a black business lady in her 60s. She thought the world of me and brought me many other clients and referrals. So much so that she once shared a heartfelt opinion with me when I was speaking glowingly of a black fellow we both knew. “Tony, it’s OK for you to say you like some black person, but never refer to them as your friend.”
The wounds and divides run deep. We all make mistakes. There is still much to be done. Hoping for a world of zero prejudice is not the same as having it. And it won’t come any faster by being intolerant of past mistakes, especially as here, when so many are emoting on half truths and misinformation.
16
Northam is learning that the coverup is worse than the crime.
The medical school should be closed. I'm sure this behavior carried over into their professional life.
@Moses except it wasn’t. Dr. Northam led an exemplary, compassionate practice, and continues his public work in service to all.
7
I am 68 years old and went to a predominantly Caucasian attended high school. I held zero biases against blacks. Still, the telling of racist jokes was common place. Yes, the jokes were racist and, at the time, we thought they were funny. In today's American culture, I see the racism behind the jokes we told and it would never occur to me to repeat them. I am a long-time, generous, financial supporter of the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Planned Parenthood, International Rescue Committee, Amnesty International and more organization which deal with human rights and basic dignity for all.
To me, it would be wrong to judge me as the person who used to tell racist jokes. Not only was I not aware of their being racist (they were just jokes to me), but they in no way indicate the man I am today and for what I stand.
Was Governor Northam a racist while in medical school? I don't know. What matters most to me is the man he is today. A gag photo from 35 years ago, regardless of how we see it today, does not disqualify Northam from being a good person today.
110
So, Northam did something that was fine according to the mores of his peers 35 years ago-- the height of animal house, costumed ridiculousness at parties (juxtaposing blackface and Klan member seems right right up the alley for one of them)-- and now he is being judged according to 2019 mores. As to why he is not admitting to it, look at recent history-- there is never forgiveness-- the part of society who is demanding he quits will only be emboldened by an admission, and he will have cut the legs out from under his allies who at least now have the option of pretending to believe him when he says it wasn't him in the photo. So, as usual, the best thing for him to do is to give a hypothetical apology to something he denies doing.
10
Things were different back in the late 70's and early 80's in medical school. It was still a predominantly white male profession. Women in our class of 1982 were only 10 percent of the student body. Black students had their own separate but equal grouping for the first 2 years.
There was institutional prejudice in many respects from the PhD faculty and physicians who taught us.
There was a secret society of students and faculty that excluded women, Jews, and Black students. This was to give an advantage to the men if the government was going to force equality. This secret society was started by the head of the Dept. of Medicine at the school in the 1960's.
Times have changed thank goodness
6
What happened in 1986 was offensive.
The relevant question is Notham's
behavior now or in recent past. Has
he been recist in his conduct since
graduation? If past matters, why stop
in 1986, go back all the way and condemn every racist. Is the costume
party the expression of real person?
The issue is much ado about little.
16
I enrolled in a well-respected southern university in 1965; this was also the year the university desegregated. Until then, one of the campus organizations had held a "traditional" annual minstrel show with all the old-style stereotypical blackface caricatures. But out of respect for the entering black students, they canceled this "tradition," and it was never held again. Everyone knew it was offensive then, and Northam and his buddies at EVMS knew it was offensive twenty years later. In fact, making fun of people by caricaturing them has never NOT been offensive, no matter how "amusing" it might have seemed to some. The only difference is that a majority of Americans are now angry enough not to let the offenders off with a mere apology, let alone the apology-then-denial Gov. Northam thinks he can get away with. Now if the hypocritical Republican establishment would just accept the responsibility for inflicting Trump, King, McConnell, and the rest of their bigots on us, we might begin to see some real improvement in our politics.
5
The attorney general’s remarks provide some guidance on how Northram should have handled this. He describes his behavior as callous in numerous ways and does not ask “forgiveness” - something black people are rarely acceded- but instead recognizes how hurtful that was. Northram hasn’t even mentioned what his actions felt like for blacks, and in the casual way he describes the “other time” he put shoe polish on his face, still doesn’t seem to get it. He’s focused on keeping his office rather than leading whites into a reckoning of all they have casually said and done to mock a race originally brought here as slaves, who continue to endure ignorance and indignity. Yes, people have done things in their past / but time to talk about the massive structure of American culture that has relentlessly excused these actions while allowing no quarter from their fellow citizens, African Americans.
3
A photo appeared 35 years ago on a yearbook page the content of which is determined by the student him/herself, and the student in question is just now coming to the realization that he doesn't know who was in a photo posted or why that photo was included? For 35 years, he's never bothered to find out how that happened?
Really?
2
Things change.
Now you can't read Huck Finn without causing offense, though it's an accurate reflection of the times. It calls attention to prejudices and contradictions that most people at the time never considered.
Who is Ralph Northam now? Who was he 10 or 20 years ago? The things mentioned were not symbols of racism or sexism...at that time.
That's a costume! Millions of kids dress up as horror figures every Halloween, that doesn't mean they espouse mass murder.
I don't care if this guy is Republican or Democrat, this particular thing is a tempest in a teapot.
22
What happened to admitting you were wrong headed 30 years ago and being forgiven. If he continued to do this — then you go after him.
11
There are different opinions about what behaviors are in bad taste, or mildly offensive versus those that are racist or horribly offensive. I find it hard to understand a photo of someone in KKK attire, especially in a medical school yearbook. Blackface is less egregious since dressing up as an entertainer or celebrity is different from dressing up as a terrorist. I don't even know how to respond to the mention of sombreros or Japanese clothing. Having in my home a yearbook from another southern medical school and the same era, I wondered what I would find. Not surprising, I found a photo from one of our parties where a classmate was dressed as a samurai-anatomist in tribute to John Belushi of Saturday Night Live wielding his sword in the cadaver lab. Other pictures depicted many of my classmates dressed up as their favorite diseases. Another picture was of a classmate dressed as a witch-doctor in blackface and a bone thru the nose, and a spear in hand. There was no malice intended, just a bunch of barely out their teens young men and women starting a stressful and all-consuming course of study with not a lot of playtime on their hands. Still, a KKK costume? Really?
211
I want to meet the person that never made a mistake, or had an error in judgement while growing up.
I don't believe that there is a perfect person so I tend to judge people by their recent actions, I could be wrong but I doubt it.
207
Ralph Northam was 25 yrs old! He was not a child. He was not even in his youth! He made a mistake more than once! He also went to a party black faced and gave directionns on how to best achieve a "black face" look. He was ready to do the "Moon walk" dance for reporters. This is not a man who shows remorse! He smiled as he made the remarks. He looked sheepish and proud of himself. He needs to quit!!!
@BTO
7
@BTO
I think Trump thinks he never made a mistake in his whole life.
22
MY HUSBAND GRADUATED FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL IN 1983, UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI (HARDLY THE HOTBED OF RACIAL EQUALITY!). NOT BEING FROM THIS AREA, WE WERE BOTH APPALLED BY THE REGRESSIVE STATE OF RACE RELATIONS IN OUR FOUR YEARS THERE. I WANT TO REASSURE READERS THAT NEVER WAS THERE A YEARBOOK OR A PARTY SUCH AS THE VIRGINIA EXPERIENCE. NEVER. WAS PREJUDICE ALIVE AND WELL IN CINCINNATI THEN...YES! BUT AT LEAST THE MEDICAL SCHOOL EXPERIENCE WE HAD SEEMED TO HAVE HAPPENED ON A DIFFERENT PLANET. EXCUSES RING AS HOLLOW TODAY AS THEY SHOULD HAVE BACK THEN. INEXCUSABLE.
17
@MARI TISCHENKO Please stop shouting it is quite unnecessary
5
@MARI TISCHENKO
That was boldly stated.
5
When and how does this end? As a youngster, I played "Cowboys and Indians" with kids in my neighborhood. If I chose to run for public office now, do I need fear that someone from the old neighborhood might find and release an old picture of me of me with paint on my face and wearing a cheap dimestore headdress?
Unlike Northam, I would readily admit it was me but I would also say that, given a choice, I would never do it again. Would that satisfy everyone? I doubt it.
206
@Tom Q
“When and how does this end?” I agree with you about childhood, but....
surely adulthood in the 1980s seems to be fair behavior to examine.
12
@Tom Q
Mid 20s is a far cry from a child playing with other children in their neighborhood. Drawing the line at the behavior of adults seems fair enough to me.
20
@Tom Q no need to worry. You were a minor child. He was an adult medical student.
21
I believe in redemption, in forgiveness. The Governor is repentant, he is truly sorry. How long should I be reminded of my past transgressions? He is changed man. We all make amends. We promise not to repeat past crimes/offenses. Let him live, cleansed from his past errors.
68
I do not see the Governor as truly sorry. And he did it at least 2 times, not once. A Governor needs to meet a higher standard. He can no longer function successfully as a Governor. He needs to quit!
@Guillermo Bahamón
1
Given the prevailing culture it is hard to believe that the future Governor was not fully engaged in his yearbook presentation.If he had acknowledged his involvement truthfully and fully and then demonstrated by his words and actions that he was no longer the same person as at age twenty-five his reputation would be saved. His Trump-like reaction of denial and half truths render him unfit to continue as Governor. And sadly give cover to Trump and other Republicans of like mind and attitude.
11
@Milton Lewis - "demonstrated by his words and actions that he was no longer the same person as at age twenty-five". He's actually already done that, with 35 years of service to his community, his country and his state. Meanwhile, the "holier than thou" attitude of the Democratic national and state leadership just took a hit when the Lt Gov (D) was accused of sexual assault and the Attorney General (D), next in line to succeed as Governor, admitted to also wearing blackface, in 1980. The next man eligible to become GOV of VA is a Republican.
7
Now the NY Times is running an article about the Virgina Attorney General admitting he also dressed up in blackface and a white wig when he was in university.
They do not allow comments. How will the media circus paint this? Attack? Part truth?
The fact is that it was common back then. That doesn't make it right but destroying people now will not help - unless they are arrogant and unapologetic.
Remember laugh-in? The black judge with the white wig? He was a character. People dressed up like him for costume parties.
In retrospect it was in very bad taste. Today WE THE PEOPLE must do everything we can to eradicate racism - as the vast majority of people want to do. WE must not allow it to be used as a hate-mongering tool.
Start by watching the recent movies, "Black KKK" and "The Green Book". They are both about overcoming prejudice. WE can and MUST do it.
51
@njglea Perhaps before you decide to use "The Green Book" as an example of overcoming prejudice you should read about the controversy following that movie and how that's playing out. The movie's portrayal of the Dr. Shirley from the view point of his white driver, whose son is the author of the book upon which the movie is based, without any input from his living relatives who knew him well is the ultimate in white privilege. The author and the director instead of acknowledging that they did not do their research have decided to use the two black associated with the movie to deflect any and all criticism of how the movie came to be made.
6
@njglea
NO!
It was Not common back then!!
I was a young, female law student “back then.”
I remember the moments of racial insensitivity- they still sting as if it were yesterday.
However, nevee was such a culture of racist behavior allowed to flourish at my university.
Stop excusing this. Just stop.
They knew better but believed they were impenetrable because of those privilege as young, white men.
Or, perhaps they didn’t. They should have known.
In either instance, they should not be permitted to hold office.
3
The republicans in Virginia who are currently enjoying the discomfiture of the Democratic administration best consider their own interests. There is undoubtedly a great deal of similar “harmless” nostalgia from their lives waiting for exposure. All it takes is a photograph and a partisan scandal sheet internet site to target them. What goes around comes around as they say and southern republicans have more of this paraphernalia in their backgrounds than their opponents. Let the accounting begin and let the devil take the hindmost.
50
@John Chastain
The big difference, as I see it, is that people who vote Republican don't care. It is not an issue with them. Trump is a great example of this Republican attitude.
11
@John Chastain Sadly, Republicans don't care about the dignity of people of color and women. They can get elected with all sort of baggage.
8
“I hate that people take something that happened 35 years ago and put 2019 values on,” he said. “Values and politics and perceptions have changed since then.”
He seems to be saying that Slavery and Jim Crow were acceptable in past eras, therefore, they are probably not such a big deal in 2019.
10
@Ray
I don’t think that is what he is saying at all. Slavery and Jim Crow were wrong then as they are today. But, as I think history tells us, slavery and Jim Crow were acceptable by many. That didn’t make it right. But to judge a person on past acts that he has atoned for Is vengeful. I prefer to believe that people are redeemable.
2
Offensive behaviour is offensive behaviour and inexcusable. What has been his record for the last forty years.
4
How long does it take for people to "get it"? When I started college at the University of Vermont in 1968, there was a winter festival called "Cake Walk." The highpoint was a battle of fraternities in which they competed at being the best at cake walking, a high stepping dance performed by individuals wearing black face and costumes. This had been a ritual slaves were made to do to entertain their keepers. By 1970 snowy, cold very white northern Vermont had a large enough Black student voice that their disgust at this festival, and why it was so disgusting, was heard and understood. Cake Walk festival died, but not without a lot of resistance and resentment of many students and alumni. By the time I graduated in 1973, Cake Walk was a memory, not missed. I can not believe that 10+ years later, behaviour of this type was celebrated in the heart of what had been slave country. One of the wisdoms of my aging is that I know in my heart that a lot of people will never "get it." How very sad this has made me.
64
@Patty
Wow! I never knew the history of the cake walk. Thank you for this post.
I assumed it was something Southern, since we didn't do it in NJ but every spring my son's school fair had one, albeit without anything untoward in the execution.
I always thought a cake walk was what I saw every year at his school - a kind of everyone's a winner musical chairs where you won actual cakes baked by your classmates' moms!
15
@Patty The official title was "Kake Walk" (three K's).
..."There was also a picture of a man wearing a sombrero and a woman in Japanese attire at what seemed to be a costume party."...
I unsure why this was included in the article, especially in a paragraph that also mentions confederate costumes. Are we to infer that this is now offensive behavior - dressing in cultural attire different from our own?
These culturally unique items are sold by "natives" at tourist trap gift shops in just about any country you go to. If they are willing to trade on their culture's attire how can they then be offended?
doG help anyone who aspires to public service in the future. Valuable people - those who can make a difference - will think twice about offering their services because of this ridiculous muckraking.
166
@B Dawson this is what leapt out for me as well. When i was about 10 years old, my mother's best friend - who was Indian -- dressed me in a beautiful sari and Indian jewelry, including a headpiece with a jeweled bindi. She dressed her son as a Sikh. I remember how lovely it felt as she wrapped me in the fabric and adorned me with jewelry, and how proud I was going door to door trick or treating that year. I felt like a princess. I have a hard time seeing this experience as "culturally insensitive" - especially in the early 80s.Years later I wore similar attire to my sister's Indian wedding (her husband is Indian), and I felt just as beautiful.
83
The article doesn't give too much detail, but it is all about nuance and context. It is possible to wear a sombrero or a kimono respectfully, neutrally, awkwardly/creepily (think of the character with the Asian fetish from the American Pie sequel), or with ugly hateful or at least mocking intent. Which one it is depends on the details. It's the duty of the media to provide the information and then the duty of the citizenry to decide what to make of it, at least where a public official is involved. For a private citizen, it would be for his or her employer (if it rose to the level of affecting job performance or the employer's reputation, ability to serve the public, or profits), friends, family, neighbors to judge. Given what we do know of the context here, it's safe to assume those other photos in this yearbook were also offensive in nature rather than examples of respectful sombreros or kimonos, but you are technically correct that we don't have explicit confirmation.
7
@B Dawson this is what leapt out for me as well. When i was about 10 years old, my mother's best friend - who was Indian -- dressed me in a beautiful sari and Indian jewelry, including a headpiece with a jeweled bindi. She dressed her son as a Sikh. I remember how lovely it felt as she wrapped me in the fabric and adorned me with jewelry, and how proud I was going door to door trick or treating that year. I felt like a princess. I have a hard time seeing this experience as "culturally insensitive" - especially in the early 80s.Years later I wore similar attire to my sister's Indian wedding (her husband is Indian), and I felt just as beautiful.
I will add that I can't imagine under what circumstances someone dressing up in a KKK costume was acceptable or not racist, in the 80s or later. And whether or not it's Northam, it appears he did make the choice to have this photo on his page. I can't imagine under what circumstances someone would think this was okay, unless it was for some sort of theatrical production. I think from a historical perspective as well as a modern day one, this is very different from dressing up in what i would call "cultural attire."
8
“They had no concern for the people whose feelings that they were hurting.”
In my experience this is the most common underlying cause of prejudice +/- racism, and I've been personally guilty of same. But, I think once pointed out and recognized, it's how people respond that's more accurately addresses the question, "are you prejudiced/racist". Being ignorant is one thing, being a racist is another. It's altogether possible to be both. In Governor Northam's case, the additional factor at play seems to be hubris. That may be the biggest hurdle of them all.
21
This is weird on so many levels. They were in medical school and had an annual, and an annual staff? How did any aspiring doctors have time to do this? And, why blackface? There seems to have been sort of an obsession with this; and with partying in general--The Supremes, really? This brings up another question: all of the people shown here are men; did they have any women at this school?
11
How old are you?
This was the ‘80’s when ‘Trading Places’, had the same gag- white man in black face and black man in kkk costume.
‘Animal House’ was the biggest movie and people still said, “Lady Doctor”, in hushed and revered tones.
No. There were likely not any women.
Times change. Be glad.
10
@Marlene Barbera Trading Places is bit different: Eddie Murphy was one of the major stars and for those who don't know, Mr. Murphy is black. He also did "Coming to America" where he made fun of American Blacks (Soul Glow, anyone?). It's different when someone is poking fun at themselves.
There was also black face in "Soul Man" but the actors in that movie have since talked about how offensive it might seem now.
Both Trading and Soul BTW poked fun at the prejudices and misconceptions of their white characters and essentially tried to convey that we all needed to look beyond skin color.
1
Was this an all male school? If not, why are all the interviews with the male students? Why are there no pictures of or comments from women?
11
The ‘80’s, fella.
People still said, ‘Lady Doctor’, if they ever heard tell of such a unicorn.
3
The commonness of racist photos in the med school yearbook and that each student chose what was to be include on his/her page is illuminating. Why is Gov. Northam undertaking a phony search for the real guys in the photos. If he chose the photos, does it matter whether either of them depicted him?
15
Dr William Elwood said “I hate that people take something that happened 35 years ago and put 2019 values on . . . Values and politics and perceptions have changed since then.”
I was an undergrad in the early 60s . . . and I and most of my fellow students would have been appalled by someone appearing in blackface or a klan outfit. To say that that sort of behavior was acceptable in the 1980s . . . two decades after the landmark Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights bill, and three decades after Brown v. Board of education . . . shows the lack of knowledge of history that Dr. Elwood and others had . . . and evidently still have.
28
My review of the ratings of the med school does not indicate that is an "elite" school as Mr. Elogon state. More on topic, the governors snifting narrative indicates that he has yet to genuinely confront his past.
6
I hope “Black KkKlansman” is seen again and again. Attending the Lynching Memorial might enlighten some souls, too.
It is nauseating and deplorable to see the “rights” that some individuals bestow and bestowed themselves with.
There is no room for a hint of bias or discrimination in political leaders. Northam needs to go home and stay there. The sooner the better.
Yes, people do things that they wish they hadn’t. But we need to also be responsible to future generations that there are indeed consequences.
96
I’m embarrassed that there are so many people who have never done anything over 35 years that they now would never do. We should start background checks all the way back to before we were conceived. People can never change. Don’t look at how far they have come judge them only by mistakes. The trump way.
38
Good grief...I was a student in the 'south' in the 60s and 70s, taught in the 80s on. Racism was rampant. Our junior high mascot was a Confederate soldier, our school song was 'Dixie'. We wore Confederate hats to pep rallies and waved Confederate flags. Did we know it was wrong? I didn't. No one had taught a thing about it at that point. But, we learned as we matured. Then, to engage in such behavior was by choice. No excuses.
59
No one is saying that you should be exiled from civilization because of your actions but should you be eligible to take a position in government or business with such acts in your past? No!
2
@From Where I Sit
wow, judgmental much? again, how do you feel about rehabilitation of criminals and drug addicts? is someone only judged by their past, not the cumulative weight of their actions over a lifetime?
14
The Commonwealth's Attorney General is third in line to the Governor. That AG, Mark Herring, just admitted that he wore a wig along with "brown" makeup at a 1980 college party. Dirty politics indeed. Is this the work of Northam's keepers, or the continued work of the alt right website that originally discovered the yearbook photo.
Is someone manipulating social media and our tendency to feel immediate outrage over every indiscretion to overturn the 2016 Commonwealth Election? I don't think I want to ride this American roller coaster for the next two years. The last two years have been exhausting enough on the Trump Twirl Coaster.
We need to collectively draw the line before this gets out of hand. We all make mistakes. Where does real contrition and forgiveness begin? Where does it end?
41
Calling EVMU an elite medical school is a stretch. I graduated in 1977 in Canada and would not have put anything like this in my med school yearbook if we had such a thing.
14
@Elaine Wang My medical school has never had a yearbook in the nearly 75 years of its existence. Perhaps we were too busy studying and training, rather than partying?
2
I graduated from medical school at the University of Maryland, a former slave state, in the 1970s. Such pictures wouldn't have been tolerated at anytime I was in school.
As to blacks being isolated at the school, perhaps as a white I perceived things differently than my fellow black students but I never got any idea that they felt mistreated or isolated by their fellow students or faculty.
By the way, I don't know the make up of the student body or faculty at Eastern Virginia at that time, but there were a fair number of Jewish faculty and students at Maryland and they would probably have been as uncomfortable with images of the KKK as the black ones did.
And despite the indication that black students had different career aspirations than their white counterparts, I don't believe any of the former in my class entered primary care. Most came out of working class backgrounds and made it very clear they intended to enter higher paying specialties.
52
@Steve
Maryland has been a Northern state since the first day of the civil war. It wasn't voluntary, it was occupied militarily. But it has been as liberal as Massachusetts as a result.
Virginia was the capital of the confederacy. Every other road is named after Robert E Lee.
Virginia finally joined civilization in 1990, when Doug Wilder was elected their first African American Governor.
Also, having been in medical education for 30 years, I have never heard of EVMC until a week ago. "Elite" it isn't. But it might have given some rural poor kids, black and white, a chance to go to medical school. That could partially explain why the yearbook was so backwards.
In medical education today, we are supposed to teach both ethics and professionalism. But even now there is a lot of resistance. Many doctors bristle that anyone but doctors can teach medical ethics.
To see if a medical school is "elite" you can look to see who (if anyone) has teaching ethics and professionalism as their primary job. The weak schools just let it be covered by a non-expert (maybe an 80 year old Dean who 'knows' medical 'traditions' like the Hippocratic Oath.)
Another way to look into "elite" is just what University is it affiliated with. EVMC is not affiliated with any University. In that way it is more like a typical D.O. school. Some nice people go to them, some smart people go to them, but they are easier to get into, and some people who shouldn't be doctors get in.
48
@Steve
Maryland is not Virginia! I have lived in both states for long periods of times. You cannot compare the two.
17
This sounds like mixing issues - I’ve known people who, for one reason or another, should never have gone to med school end up as graduates of fairly prestigious universities.
And people who desperately wanted to be physicians for the right reasons - to serve the needs of humanity, not take up high-paying specialties, and who had the skills simply unable to make it into anything except a DO house.
Some of my best physicians have graduated from those placed. Some of my worst were graduates of NYU Medical School, Ivy League med schools, etc. And vice versa.
Right now, the Long Island region is so GP poor that most of that level of work is performed by Nurse-Practitioners while the physicians are all doing their specialist work.
We do not yet seem to have any kind of ethics standard for Med School applicants. Grades, Mcat scores and the ability to pay are the primary routes of access to “good” medical schools.
Nobody ever asks “why do you want to practice medicine?”
32
I graduated from medical school in 1970, 14 years before Dr. Northam. This was from a Northern medical school (New York University), not a Southern one, but both are in the United States. Because I was interested in photography, I took some of the yearbook photos of my classmates and at no point did I encounter a situation with racist overtones. There were no such pictures in our yearbook. The most embarrassing photos, also reflecting our time, include the one with my sideburns and several pictures of classmates smoking, more pipes than cigarettes. There is no excuse for the photos, and activities, in the Eastern Virginia Medical School yearbook.
62
This is an excellent article, as it shows both how values & attitudes have changed, and how they haven't. Humans are individuals but also frequently don't realize how saturated we are with the culture we are in. In some sense, aren't we ALL responsible for that yearbook and similar offenses? Didn't we all look the other way?
The important difference this story highlights is that black people were equally offended 35 years ago, but had NO VOICE at that time. They were invisible; also they chose their battles. They needed to stay on goal--the medical degrees. Now they have more of a voice, but the prejudice is still there.
The fact that there was no supervision over the creation of the yearbook in 1984 is moot. There should have been, in principal, as students are notoriously immature, but one suspects a white faculty member supervising the yearbook at that time might not have found the pictures offensive either! We have moved, but still have a long way to go.
Although it is good this has come to light, I don't think Governor Northam should be martyred over it. He really was part of that culture (witness the appalling behavior Dr. Randolph reports by the chairman of the medicine department!!) and if Northam "gets it" and has apologized sincerely, it should be accepted. As repellent as the pictures are, in my view he should not lose his job for not being prescient 35 years ago.
93
@Eastsider You make some excellent points. One of which surely is that notoriously immature students are not yet mature enough to become medical doctors.
4
Not only black people were offended 35 years ago.
3
It is infuriating that the media continues to try to destroy Mr. Northanm's career when this is all a hard right/Russia propaganda scheme to try to destroy a democratic governor.
Two articles ran in this week's Seattle P.I. (online only) that outs the neo-conservatives who started it. One includes information from a fellow graduate of the medical school who says a person's information is often changed without their knowledge.
Read them for your selves at the links below, particularly media gossips, and STOP allowing them to control your reporting. Unless, of course, you really want The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren to stay in power because it increases your ratings/readership and profit.
If so, shame on you. OUR United States is under attack from inside by the International Mafia. Do not assist them.
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/A-tip-from-a-concerned-citizen-helps-a-reporter-13585192.php
https://www.seattlepi.com/news/education/article/Racist-yearbook-photo-went-unnoticed-by-busy-med-13591054.php
37
So you are saying nothing is really true especially when it is in opposition to your dogma. Please
1
@njglea
Read also the AP story that interviews yearbook staff saying photos were unlikely to have been mixed up: https://abc3340.com/news/nation-world/yearbook-staff-disagree-on-whether-racist-photo-was-mix-up. This shows the danger of using limited reporting when making decisions.
While I agree that the Governor is being unfairly hounded for a decades old offense, I think you are narrow minded over who is fanning the flames. A conservative website outed the photo but the outraged mob cuts across all political lines.
Democrats could have come out in support and condemned the situation but instead they are all protecting their own careers by piling on - and strong arming the only three dems to originally stand by Northam. Democrats stood by Clinton when he denied a sexual relationship with Lewinsky; they pretty much ignored his multiple extra-martial relationships throughout his lifetime and even ignored HRC's blatant attack campaigns against the women involved. Why? Because it was a different time.
Northam's own party has deserted him because of the current atmosphere of PC pitbulls who just can't allow anyone to have faults.
5
@njglea Your post is about as bad as many Republicans: My party (or my side), right or wrong essentially. It doesn't matter where the pictures came from: if the action committed is wrong, it's wrong even if he's a Democrat.
I am flummoxed how media and opposition researchers failed to find this in the run-up to the election.
As well, the woman who is accusing the Lt. Governor of sexual harassment contacted the Washington Post during the election, but The Post apparently didn't look very hard for corroboration.
It is safe to assume that the media would have been far more diligent had those candidates had an (R) after their names. Just ask George Allen, Brett Kavanaugh, Neomi Rao, etc.
114
The situation is a tricky one. I can tell you that I graduated medical school about the same time. At that time there was a "Black Medical Student Union", an organization of Black medical students. They had many functions, many sponsored by the university and Pharmaceutical Industry in which all White Medical Students were excluded. It swings both ways.
10
@Alter Ego
I graduated in the early '80s (in southern Ohio) and found the same situation. I knew and was always friendly and polite to black students at my college.
My predominately white sorority rushed without thought of color, but most black women chose the black sorority. The black sorority didn't rush white women. There were many social events that were diverse but we each had our preferred groups and no one thought anything of it.
8
@Alter Ego Yes, you are right. Racism does swing both ways but the big question is why did the Black students form their Student Union in the first place. Were they being excluded from joining other organizations on the campus? Sometimes exclusionary practices are not written down but observed and felt.
12
Did the black students burn crosses on the lawns of white students? Did the black students lynch white students? And then joke about it?
2
I'm grateful to know that this conversation on race, including consideration of built-in social and economic disparity, arose from a yearbook.
I had the privilege of being a high school year book editor in a Western Illinois town from which arose Carl Sandburg, the Ferris Wheel, Walgreens, organized labor, railroad hubs, and the preservation of stops on the Underground Railroad. How fortunate we were to have had African-American studies, Latin-American studies, and Asian-American studies from grade school through high school.
The key to solving this cultural divide is smart investment in public school education from K-12 and college and elevation of teachers in recognition of the important foundation they provide to our society.
Best wishes to the Commonwealth of Virginia in solving your current situation, which you will, and thank you to the Great Prairie State of Illinois for the start in life.
39
@ bmu all that in Galesburg? Interesting. I too, am from western Illinois and never knew Walgreens began there. At any rate, there still remains ignorance and prejudice within that area and diversification isn't as prominent as your comment would lead one to believe.
4
From Dr. Elwood description of how photos got into the yearbook make the photos on Notham's page even more damning. If he didn't put them those photos on his page then who did?
In addition Dr. Elwood's comments about seeing nothing wrong with blackface at that time and the excuse that putting 2019 standards on what happened in 1984 being unfair is just showing how oblivious he and others were to the discrimination that black students had to endure at that time. Just from Dr Elwood's comments it seems very plausible that Northam and others at that time felt nothing wrong with discriminating against blacks even though they were fellow students.
It's like saying treating blacks as slaves
31
The proposal that "the practice of letting students run a yearbook unsupervised should have just been shut down" in 1984 is absurd. Presumably, every one of those students was an adult while in medical school and capable of their own self-governance. A medical school has better things to do than police the personal activities of their students. When I was a medical student at the same time (elsewhere), my classmates and I published our own yearbook without one iota of school supervision, and the responsibility for the outcome was entirely, and appropriately, our own. My question is not where were the medical school police, but what were the faculty of that era doing to teach the EVMC students about human dignity? And, more importantly, what are all of us doing about that now?
111
@Dan Oren, MD
I was also a medical student during the time frame in question (1984), also did not attend medical school in Virginia.
My response to your comment is : Is the yearbook truly an"independent publication"? Just asking. Or do the student editors make use of the institutions resources, it's buildings, equipment, electronic resources, and/or some form of funding.
I agree that medical students are adults and capable of self governance. However this publication like most yearbooks serve in some manner as a reflection of the instituition. If this medical school did not make an unequivocal effort to distance itself from the publication then people will naturally assume it in some way reflects it.
10
@Dan Oren, MD
Exactly.
This wasn't high school.
8
@KC
I can't speak for EVMC, but in my year in my school, the yearbook work was entirely the initiative and action of the medical students. We never claimed it to be an official publication of the school or the university. We used our own resources, except we did meet in a medical school conference room that we borrowed to do the some of the work. (Electronic resources in those pre-internet days were minimal!)
As you note, the act of publication does have the potential to reflect on the medical school as a whole. Which is why I ask the question of what were the faculty of that school doing back then to teach humane values to their students? It seems that this was sorely missing from their curriculum, or if it was there, was not absorbed.
10
I beg to differ with the apologists who refer back to 1984 values. At that time I was a student at a large public university in neighboring North Carolina. One of the frat houses near campus suddenly papered over their windows leading some of us to sniff around about what was going on. Alas, an 'old south' party was planned, complete with frat boys in black face. Why would they have papered over all of the windows unless they themselves recognized that this behavior was offensive? Some of us managed to expose the plans and spoil their 'fun'. No one on campus questioned the offensiveness of blackface, period.
299
That is a lot different than putting a little shoe polish on to do the MIchael Jackson moonwalk in a dance contest, Michelle E.
Mr. Northam has said repeatedly that it is not him in the yearbook photo. I believe him. He is a good, decent man.
14
@njglea
Really?
And what 'good, decent man' thinks joking about the KKK is EVER acceptable?
5
He chose the photos including the one of his pal in KKK hoods. It’s not funny. It’s not acceptable then or now.
14
What is it about there always being guys dressing up as women and imitating them in comedic fashion that still evokes laughter in so many places? Am I the only one who tires of this?
I am not referring to drag queens who develop their own character.
33
@Paige
Dear Paige,
The British love this schtick. Watch some old Monty Python skits they very often dressed up in skirts and high heels. I thought it was funny, but I guess it might offend some.
6
@gpickard I get it, and love Monty Python. It just seems to get old as a rite of passage for the frat boys.
1
@Paige Yep, as I read this article I thought one could change this from black to women, and it's still OK to imitate this with women: Circus clowns with balloons for busts, for example...
7
I went to high school on Long Island in the early 1970s. High school, not med school. And everyone -- everyone -- knew it was emphatically not ok to dress up in blackface or in KKK robes. Please bury te tired yarn that ignorant racist behavior was ok in the old days... at a med school in the 1980s. Give me a break.
312
@LK
“ Ole times there are not forgotten “
8
It’s all well and good thatvthe current dean is trying to rectify things, but Northam needs to go.
Reading comments from some of the white doctors who attended that school, you get the impression that they were and are utterly clueless about their own racism.
45
And may I add sexism to the list? -- The photo of the soon-to-be practicing physician fondling a mannequin's breast and joking about his true feelings is every womans' nightmare about male doctors: that even though there is a pretence of concern and professionalism, deep down they are just ogling and laughing at us.
9
Good article- the medical school should be called on this demonstration of systemic racism, and perhaps medical schools and hospitals should be scrutinized for racism today. Who gets the grant, which population is served or not served, who is hired, what are the wages?
And then, let's consider the disastrous effect current USA healthcare policies are on people today. How many medical schools are pushing for single payer healthcare? I hope we don't wait too many years before current policies are viewed as shocking.
2
we can lock someone up for housing discrimination now, but how will we ever cleanse the stain on the hearts of our culturally deprived?
It turns out that the students selected the photos for their page. Well, that looks pretty damning.
I still don't understand why on earth graduate students of any age would have a yearbook. I went to grad school, and my focus was on doing my best at it and finishing the program on time. Believe me, there wasn't time for nor even thought of a yearbook.
69
Exactly! Graduate school is grueling and I can only imagine that medical school is more incredibly demanding than any other program.
When I was in graduate school (an east coast ivy), we had an completely diverse class and everyone’s main concern was to complete the program with best possible grades - there was NO time for raucous parties, costume shows, etc. I think other than meeting for study groups and projects I went out socially a total of 3 times during the entire time. I don’t know much about this school, but it does seem odd that the adult students had this much time, opportunity, and inclination to party.
7
@Reg L Indeed! Especially if your medical school yearbook quote mentions booze and your proclivity for drinking - just how responsible and reliable of a "doctor" do you intend to be?!
2
@Reg L No, it's really not odd. Even in a grueling program, there will ALWAYS be down time. What are you suggesting, that grad/medical students devote literally every waking second to school?
3
As a student of color, and being first in my family to graduate from college and currently preparing myself to take my Medical College Admissions Test I am deeply saddened by this story. It brings me a mix of emotions of anger, frustration, and sadness to read the comments of physicians, defending their actions of blatant racism, such as "That was the norm" , “I hate that people take something that happened 35 years ago and put 2019 values on,”It was done as part of a dress up, being somebody you’re not,”. “It was not done as some kind of racial thing.” As an aspiring physician, truly this is completely inappropriate regardless of what era we were in, to be a physician and not be cognizant of your actions and how that affects your fellow classmates and society as a whole truly contradicts the profession in which many are held at high moral standards, you treat everyone with complete respect whether its direct or indirect.
418
@Jennifer Glen
This is wierd. I was in both public and private high schools in the 50's , 20 years before him .There was never a suggestion of anything like this by anyone I met or heard about in those years.
18
@Steve Crouse
Where were your schools located?
8
@Jennifer Glen
What color are you? Black? Brown? White? Yellow? Mexican? Muslim? Jewish? Aryan? African? Australian? Chinese? Indian? German? Brazilian? African American?
Every human being is a person of color. Even those with albinism.
Color is not race nor ethnicity nor national origin.
Color is an evolutionary fit pigmented response to varying levels of solar radiation at altitudes and latitudes in ecologically isolated human populations primarily related to producing Vitamin D and protecting genes from damaging mutations.
There is only one biological DNA genetic evolutionary fit human race species that began in Africa 300, 000 years ago.
There is only one race aka human Earthling.
See " The Race Myth: Why We Pretend Race Exists in America" Joseph Graves
30
Americas best and brightest: boasting about alcoholism
China and India: students relentlessly focused on biologic computing and artificial intelligence
I wonder who will own the future? unless its alcoholic robots, America's future is bleak
78
@MoneyRules - You're on to something here. Bender from Futurama would be an infinitely better supreme leader than our current aspiring overlord.
2
this is ridiculous we have to place values on this practice even if it was 30 years ago because as early as 2013 racial epithets were still be adding to the year books and just because you discontinue production of them it doesn't mean the atmosphere has changed. He should step down because the views and ideals he once presented are not valid to who he is.
6
That is insane! You’re saying that just because some epithets were still being put in print in 2013 that it was somehow OK (or more OK) in 1985? It’s an epithet - by definition it’s wrong! It was wrong in 1930, 1950, 1985, 2013, 2019 and will still be wrong 100 years from now. Just because it was somehow tolerated doesn’t make it ok in the least.
Back in 1985 when I was first out of college (and before graduate school), my first manager and mentor told me to never ever send an email or communication that i would object to the world seeing in print on the front page of The NY Times - ever. That also extended into actions. It seems to have been a good lesson she passed on and one I’m glad to have received.
The fact that nobody saw anything wrong with this and that people are defending it saying it is wrong to apply 2019 values to 1985 actions IS WRONG!
1
There is something to be said for the comment “I hate that people take something that happened 35 years ago and put 2019 values on,” he said. “Values and politics and perceptions have changed since then.” However, I think posting of KKK photos and the writing on the mug are not funny, harmful more than anything, and had no place in a yearbook even if it was 35 years ago.
Thirty five years ago I was in college and was well aware of racial issues and sensibilities. And while a yearbook may have been for the students, hence no staff supervision, that seems ridiculous. Medical students are young 20 something year olds who still need guidance.
I am glad to see the new Provost has taken things under control, but the reality is there is no going back. It is there in black and white, printed and done.
Whether one's own perceptions on race can change over a 35 year period is a whole different story and I think the answer to that is "yes, they can." Although, as we all know, racism is alive and well in a current political state.
12
Looking at the picture accompanying the article where the students were posing as the Supremes, I noticed that one of the guys went so far as to blacken up for "authenticity", but didn't bother to shave his beard. Interesting.
3
White guys love their beards!
Wow. Not sure what else to add here. This is so bad on so many levels: whether that is him or not in that photo is irrelevant. It is on his yearbook page, period. The school should be taken to task for allowing that photo. This is so egregious it is simply hard to find words strong enough to condemn it.
8
I attended Virginia Tec"h in the early 1970s.
One of the issues which students debated was the playing of "Dixie" by the Highty Tighties, the regimental band of the Corps of Cadets (the Marching Virginians had yet to be established).
I had spent my formative years in Northern Virginia which was slightly more progressive than the rest of the Commonwealth, but saw no reason not to play the song.
My opinion changed in a class taught by Ed Marsh who was one of the smoothest talkers I ever met. Marsh, who had toured Germany when Hitler was on his ascent, asked "If you wanted someone to visit, why would you insult him when he got there?"
I changed my opinion on "Dixie" right then.
To the best of my knowledge, the Marching Virginians have never played it.
I challenge the critics of Gov. Northam to show where he has lived anything other than an exemplary life.
16
When I attended Penn and Harvard in the 1960s, there were so few African-Americans that we figured they were exceptional students and treated them as equals. Something apparently changed when the numbers went up. Perhaps it was the perception that affirmative action had something to do their admission. More likely, it was perceived as a threat to the dominance of whites. A perceived threat that is fostered by our current president, whose administration is noticeable whiter than his predecessors.
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That yearbook says as much about the medical school as it does about Northam.
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I am 59 year old white person. I graduated from college in North Carolina in 1981. We all knew that blackface and the Klan were wrong. In fact many of my college peers and I protested the Klan on our campus. Let me say that again. WE ALL KNEW THAT THE KLAN AND BLACKFACE WERE WRONG. This business of "it was 35 years ago!" and "give him a chance to redeem himself" is nuts. When Northam and everyone else put those racist images into their MEDICAL SCHOOL (I put in the bold face because people seem to have forgotten that the dude was not a kid!) yearbook, they knew what they were doing. What Northam didn't realize was that some day he would want to go into politics. He has got to go.
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@Cathy
When didn't Ralph Northam not recall his Virginia blackface medical school year book and Michael Jackson moonwalking days hijinks?
Why didn't Northam stick to the John Boehner and Donald Trump method for admiring, envying and imitating Barack Obama's natural normal brown hue?
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@Cathy I was in high school in the 1980s in Alabama. We knew blackface and the Klan were wrong too, and it would not even have occurred to me to dress up in such an appalling costume for say, Halloween. But I think these images and their placement in yearbooks aren't about standard high school/college/medical school (??) parties or hijinx. They are power plays put on by the white guys who would go on to run the country, placed in yearbooks by the same--first attempts at intimidation, consolidation of power, exclusion. That wasn't my crowd, or yours. But I bet we both knew people in that crowd.
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Hey so is it no longer ok for people to wear sombreros? I know some folks in their 60s who love going to Cinco de Mayo parties their neighbors throw and putting on a sombrero from the party hat collection that the host offers.
Is that bad -- are those people doing something evil -- and should that disqualify them from public service?
Please publish another full article on the sombrero so I can share it with them on Facebook (they tend to trust things they read via Facebook links).
Just noticed that the yearbook is said to include more blackface photos and a sombrero which I guess are now morally equivalent which may come as a surprise to some readers.
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@Michael Yeah I started to get a little nervous when I learned that wearing a sombrero is offensive. My old college roommate is Mexican and gave me a sombrero as a joke gift. There are plenty of pictures of me wearing it at parties circa 2000, and I am a white guy of northern European descent. Should I be concerned of someone stumbling across those old pictures?
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@Michael wearing a hat and painting your face are not the same. Why is this so confusing?
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@Michael
No, it's no longer OK to wear a sombrero. It is considered cultural appropriation. Moreover, when you see cartoon or drawing of a Mexican wearing a sombrero, he is usually depicted as a lazy, good-for-nothing, drunk peasant.
That said, I agree that we should be careful not to judge the antics of people in the 1980s according to the values of today. I felt uncomfortable in 1985 when a Mexican employee in a restaurant I patronized in Mexico as a member of a tour group insisted that I don a sombrero while he snapped a photograph. I don't know why I felt uncomfortable and why I disliked the photo, even though I look pretty good in it (despite the sombrero). Back then, we did not think in terms of cultural appropriation, and I don't think it's fair to judge the sombrero-wearing people from the 1980s according to norms of today.
But we all sure as heck knew back in the mid-1980s that black face and KKK robes were wrong.
276
Care for a little tempest in your teapot?
Insensitive? No argument.
Dumb, unthinking? See above.
Predictive? Current evidence hardly supports that case.
Pictures from a generation ago reveal little to nothing about a person today. What would a photographic essay of the decade or score of years immediately preceding today say about Northam when stacked up against a single 35-year-old photo with no other supporting information.
Forgiveness is so over-rated.
Or maybe not.
18
1. This was nearly 2 decades after the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act--how could they not be aware of racial issues??
2. These men were supposedly adults--presumably aged 25, 26, 27--who were about to be seeing patients, or had seen patients in hospital rounds. They were expected to be GROWN-UP.
85
The obnoxious picture of blackface and the KKK was on the governor's page in the yearbook. It hardly matters he claims he was not the person in blackface. The page says it all.
32
I am of the same generation as these gentlemen. I was in graduate school during these years. Blackface, KKK garb, and confederate regalia were as unusual and offensive then as they are now. There are no generational excuses for the abhorrent behavior. All should be appalled, then and now!
135
I am a Virginian now but was not born and raised here. Younger people, and people from other regions would be appalled, but where I went to middle school, in a state farther north, we had "Slave Day." It was a fundraiser for student government. You bid on a student who would cart your books or whatever for a day. There was an actual auction, with students on stage, an auctioneer, etc. In *middle school*. I know how horrifying this is, but I have heard of this kind of event in other places. No it wasn't right. No I'm not defending it. But even though the 80's might seem recent to some people, attitudes and behaviors were quite different, and might have been different depending on your station in life or where you were raised. People have the capacity to change and grow and thankfully most of us have.
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“It was done as part of a dress up, being somebody you’re not,” Dr. Elwood, 68, said. “It was not done as some kind of racial thing.”.....“I hate that people take something that happened 35 years ago and put 2019 values on,” he said. “Values and politics and perceptions have changed since then.”
- Values (decency) have not changed for black folks - black-face was offensive then and offensive now.
To Dr.Elwood: Ignorance of what should be cultural values is no excuse for indecency. IOW - just because you didn't think you were hurting people does not mean no one was hurt. Recognize your privileges to be able to even speak such ignorance and feel emboldened by doing so.
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