Biden to Hold Event with Va. Gov. 'Blackface' Northam Despite Previously Calling on Him to Resign

Libby | May 28, 2021
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President Joe Biden is set to hold an event Friday with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) despite previously saying that he should “resign immediately.”

The pair’s event, scheduled to take place in Alexandria, Va., is meant to mark the state’s reopening and lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.

Two years prior, however, Biden ripped into Northam’s “racism” on twitter, calling on him to resign from office “immediately,” even saying that current Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D) “is the leader Virginia needs now.”

“There is no place for racism in America,” Biden tweeted. “Governor Northam has lost all moral authority and should resign immediately, Justin Fairfax is the leader Virginia needs now.”

Northam also faced much criticism for a 1984 yearbook photograph that resurfaced in 2019. One man was wearing blackface while the other was dressed in a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) outfit. 

Originally, Northam admitted to being in the picture, though he later denied it altogether, The Daily Caller reported.

Biden was not alone in calling for Northam’s resignation, however, as then-Sen. and current Vice President Kamala Harris joined in slamming the Democratic governor in 2019.

“Leaders are called to a higher standard,” she said in a tweet, “and the stain of racism should have no place in the halls of government. The Governor of Virginia should step aside so the public can heal and move forward together.”

Northam resisted these calls to resign, noting in an interview with NBC, that he was awakened “really to what Black oppression is.”

“This is an opportunity for us to really change the direction and change the course of history,” he told NBC, “not only in Virginia, but in this country.”

Whether President Biden forgot or just doesn’t care anymore about Northam’s past “racism,” his calls for resignation have turned into a joint celebration today.

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