Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and state Attorney General Mark Herring are in the middle of a storm after admitting that they disguised themselves as African-Americans, while Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax faces accusations of alleged sexual assault, revealed today the local press
Northam, of the Democratic party, apologized on February 1 for a racist photo in its 1984 yearbook in which a man dressed as an African-American and another dressed in the Ku Klux Klan appears.
“I am very sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the damage that decision caused then and now,” Northam said in a statement released that day after a conservative website published the photo, which It caused a political earthquake throughout the country but especially in Virginia, which still has the wounds of a racist past open.
A Democrat close to Northam spoke with the publication The Hill on condition of anonymity and indicated that the official “will not resign.”
But also Fairfax, considered the man who would replace Northam in case he decided to leave his position, has faced on his part accusations of an alleged sexual assault.
Vanessa Tyson, a professor and ex-colleague at Stanford University, said in a statement released Wednesday by her lawyers that she was allegedly assaulted by Fairfax during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.
Tyson detailed in the statement quoted by The Hill that he kissed with Fairfax, but that the situation “quickly became a sexual assault.”
The vice governor said, meanwhile, that the meeting was agreed and that he had communicated cordially with Tyson after the Democratic convention.
“At no time did she express any discomfort or concern for our interactions, neither during that meeting nor the following months,” said Fairfax.
A possible resignation of Northam and Fairfax puts in line to occupy the gobernación to Herring, that this Wednesday summoned an emergency meeting with the African-American caucus of the Legislative one of Virginia to reveal that also it used a controverted disguise its university time.
“In 1980, when I was 19 years old and studying at the university, some friends suggested that we attend a party dressed as rappers that we were listening to at that time,” the official said in a statement.
As indicated, due to “ignorance” and “simplistic attitudes”, they put on “wigs and brown makeup”.
Although he clarified that this happened “only once”, Herring affirmed that he accepts “all responsibility” for his conduct. (EFEUSA) .-
