Tag: Ku Klux Klan

The group behind the float says they didn't intend to offend anyone — and that the carnival parade is simply a festival of caricature. But the Aalst carnival didn't stop at Jewish stereotypes. It featured people dressed up in what looked like Ku Klux Klan outfits, while others wore blackface. Vox visit European Parliament Spain's far-right Vox party was in the European Parliament today for an event in which they discussed Catalan separatism. But their presence was not welcomed by many. A group of civil servants protested, angry that parliament gave Vox a platform just weeks after banning an event with former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont. The protest comes in the midst of an election campaign in Spain, with worries about the rise of the far-right in the country for the first time since the 1970s. Estonia's new PM? Three days after Estonians went to the polls, coalition discussions on forming a new government began on Wednesday. The centre-right Reform party took the most votes in the election Sunday — but not enough for an outright majority.

WASHINGTON — As Virginia Democratic Gov. Justin Fairfax remains in the wings as the man who would replace him if Northam were to step down. While Northam apologized and asked for forgiveness on Saturday, he also noted that he maintained a good relationship with Fairfax, who would be America's fifth-ever black governor were he to take Northam's place. "Justin and I have a very, very close relationship," Northam said at the press conference Saturday. On Saturday, Fairfax released a statement saying he was "shocked and saddened" by the images that appeared in Northam's yearbook. "He also reached out to me personally to express his sincere regrets and to apologize." Fairfax said despite Northam's career of service to American children, soldiers and constituents, he could not condone the governor's actions from his past. Still, Northam’s admission that he darkened his face with shoe polish for a costume in the past is not the only reminder that that process is incomplete. I will be stepping off the dais today in protest of the Virginia Senate honoring Robert E. Lee. Virginia only allows elected governors to serve a single, four-year term.

“For me the scariest part is – and this has been said in the black community for decades – what happened this past week was that things we know exist came to the surface,” said Francesca Leigh-Davis, who co-hosts the RVA Dirt local politics radio show in Richmond, the Virginia state capital. To the outsider, Virginia has been moving left politically over the past decade, to the extent that some have mused whether the state, which brushes up against Washington, DC, in the north-east, should even still be considered part of ‘The South’, in the parlance of the US civil war. Simply because when you drive down the street in Richmond, there are confederate memorials. Monument Avenue, which runs from west Richmond towards the State Capitol, is a veritable rogues gallery of confederate figures. On Thursday there were again protests at Virginia’s capitol, although this time not over the blackface scandal. She thought Northam should resign because of the abortion bill, but was also turned off by the blackface controversy. The drive west from Richmond, through a barren landscape , leads to the town of Appomattox where the court house is one of the most important sites in US history. It’s not funny.” The political crisis in Virginia is a test for the Democratic party | Douglas Williams Read more Myers, 50, is only seven years younger than Herring, yet said he had never seen any of his contemporaries don shoe polish, dark makeup, or any other form of blackface. He was also troubled by the allegations against Fairfax. If any good ultimately comes from the sorry scandal in the corridors of state power, then one message at Heyer’s memorial might seem particularly relevant: “We all can create a better world,” it says.

An accusation of sexual assault against Lt. Gov. But as mainstream news outlets scrambled to confirm the photograph on Mr. Northam’s medical school yearbook page on Friday, it became clear that Big League Politics — and its mission of promoting the Trump agenda and nationalist causes — had assumed outsized influence in an increasingly Democratic state. A cloud also now hangs over the head of Mr. Fairfax, who would succeed Mr. Northam if he resigns, after Big League Politics published unsubstantiated accusations that he sexually assaulted a woman he met at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Patrick Howley, the editor in chief, said he received the photograph showing a pair of figures in blackface and Ku Klux Klan robes from a “concerned citizen,” declining to add more details. But one of Big League Politics’s owners, Noel Fritsch, described the source of the photograph as “some people who were classmates of Northam,” who brought it to light out of anger at the governor’s remarks early last week defending late-term abortions. In its mission statement, Big League Politics purports to be “not conservative” and “not liberal,” but it has trafficked in conspiracy theories favored by the far right, like the case of Seth Rich, the Democratic National Committee staff member whose murder in Washington was falsely seized on by conservative commentators as linked to WikiLeaks. Last year, Mr. Fritsch was fired as a top aide by Corey Stewart, the Republican senatorial nominee in Virginia, after reports of anti-Muslim comments he had made on social media, as well as saying Senator John McCain “sold all his comrades down the river” as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Provocation is a stock-in-trade for right-wing writers in Washington, but former colleagues said Mr. Howley’s behavior, in public tweets and private emails, went beyond mischief and into darker territory. Later, at Breitbart News, Mr. Howley earned colleagues’ ire when he questioned the credibility of Michelle Fields, a Breitbart reporter who said she was assaulted by Mr. Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, at a Florida rally. “The fact The Washington Post did not run that despite in other cases running things about Brett Kavanaugh and other people based on thinner sourcing is, I think, a dereliction of duty,” he said.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is facing mounting pressure to resign after a racist photo from his yearbook surfaced. But look, he’s lost the authority to lead. He's lost the authority to govern. He has to resign. It's in the best interest of the Commonwealth. It's in the best interest of the party." Former Virginia governor L. Douglas Wilder I stated, earlier, that Gov. It is difficult for anyone who watched the press conference today to conclude that he has any other choice ... but to resign. Our state president in Virginia has spoken with him and our position is the same.

No doubt Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Virginia Gov. Kavanaugh’s 1983 yearbook has the words “Devil’s Triangle” and “FFFFFFourth of July” under his photograph. Northam at first admitted he was in the photograph, then said he wasn’t. There was a national belly laugh in response to all of these implausible explanations. The nickname “coonman” hardly seems mysterious, especially for a man who admitted dressing in blackface. And why would a guy put a photograph that didn’t include him on HIS yearbook page? The mid-’80s were a long time ago, but there’s a big difference between DOING something stupid when you’re young, and BEING sexist or racist at any age. There’s also a big difference between having a few bigoted ideas about women and blacks, and having such deep-seeded prejudices that you feel compelled to boast about it in public. It may be unfair to judge people today by what they put in their yearbooks over 30 years ago, but it’s not unfair to ask questions about what was in their mind back then, whether they feel differently today, and why. Forgiveness is possible, but not without truth and accountability.

Virginia Gov. “I believe now and then that I am not either of the people in this photo,” Northam said. When asked about political leaders who are asking for his resignation, Northam said if he can communicate that he is not the person in the photograph, he can continue to lead. View Sample Sign Up Now “I plan to continue to lead,” he said. “If we get to the point where we feel that we’re not effective, that we’re not efficient, not only for our caucuses but for the commonwealth of Virginia, then we will revisit this and make decisions.” Northam said yesterday was the first time he ever saw the picture and that he never purchased the yearbook. Northam initially apologized for the photo, although he never confirmed which costume he was wearing in the photograph. Northam has faced after multiple calls for him to resign after the yearbook image was wide spread on Friday. On Saturday, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo, President of the Democratic Governors Association, said Northam could “no longer serve the best interests of Virginians” and said he should resign and allow Lt. Gov. Fairfax to take over. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called the photo “racist and contrary to fundamental American values” and called for him to “do the right thing.” Write to Gina Martinez at gina.martinez@time.com.

There was little forgiveness in the air in national and state political circles. Most 2020 Democratic contenders demanded Northam’s resignation and before he spoke Susan Swecker, chair of the Democratic party of Virginia, said: “We made the decision to let Governor Northam do the correct thing and resign this morning – we have gotten word he will not do so. We stand with Democrats across Virginia and the country calling him to immediately resign.” The photo was included on Northam’s 1984 yearbook page from Eastern Virginia Medical School and was made public on Friday. The Democratic governor then confirmed he was one of the two people in the photo, but did not identify which individual he was. “It was offensive, racist and despicable.” Northam said he was certain the photo was not of him because he vividly remembered another damning incident, when he participated in a dance contest in Texas where he performed as Michael Jackson and darkened his skin using shoe polish. “I didn’t realize at the time it was so offensive, as I have since learned,” Northam said. Northam said reporters would have to ask the two people who called him that how they arrived at that nickname and that his more common nickname was “Goose”. “In light of his public admission and apology for his decision to appear in the photo, he has irrevocably lost the faith and trust of the people he was elected to serve,” the VLBC said. “Changing his public story today now casts further doubt on his ability to regain that trust.” The Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman, Tom Perez, said in a statement released during the press conference that he had spoken to Northam in the morning and believed he should step down. Biden said: “Governor Northam has lost all moral authority and should resign immediately, Justin Fairfax is the leader Virginia needs now.”

The Democratic governor of Virginia apologized for his appearance in a “racist and offensive” costume in his medical school yearbook, but he defied bipartisan calls to step down Friday evening and intends to serve out his term. “I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now,” said Governor Ralph Northam in a statement. The photograph shows a person in blackface standing next to a person wearing the white robes and hood of the Ku Klux Klan. It is not apparent which figure is Northam, and the governor’s statement did not clarify that point, stating only that it shows “me from my 1984 medical school yearbook in a costume that is clearly racist and offensive”. The page lists his interest as “pediatrics” and includes the following quote: “There are more old drunks than old doctors in this world so I think I’ll have another beer.” The 59-year-old Northam was elected governor of Virginia in 2017, after having served a four-year term as lieutenant governor of the state. “The Governor of Virginia should step aside so the public can heal and move forward together.” Fellow Democratic hopefuls Senator Elizabeth Warren and Julián Castro also called on Northam to resign, as did leaders of the NAACP, MoveOn, the pro-choice group Naral and the Democratic Super Pac Priorities USA also issued calls for Northam’s resignation. The Republican party of Virginia (RPV) tweeted: “What Ralph Northam did was unforgivable. “But I accept responsibility for my past actions, and I am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust … I am committed to continuing that fight through the remainder of my term.” The state of Virginia has been grappling with its legacy of slavery and Jim Crow in recent years. The next month, a gathering of hundreds of white nationalists in the city turned deadly and shocked the world with images of angry men chanting “Jews will not replace us”. Last month, the Washington Post reported on a small act of protest by Fairfax, who declined to participate in a state senate tribute to Lee.

A political candidate once gained traction in the Kansas governor’s race running on only a single issue. That political outsider — to put it in today’s terminology — was Emporia’s own William Allen White, and he wanted to ensure the Ku Klux Klan did not gain a foothold in Kansas, much as it had in several other states at the time. The talk addressed the attempted rise of the Ku Klux Klan in Kansas and what White did to help shut it down. Whatever the cause, this resurgence ultimately resulted in White running for governor as an Independent candidate in the 1924 election. Those three anti-KKK candidates all won their races, including incumbent Attorney General Charles B. Griffith. White ran because he was dissatisfied with both Republican candidate Ben S. Paulen and Democratic incumbent Jonathan M. Davis. Though Paulen ultimately won the governorship, he didn’t show any favoritism to the Klan, she said. Buller said she believes he may have learned from White’s campaign. “Whatever his Klan ties were, I like to think that he learned something from William Allen White, from all of the things that he said for those six weeks,” she said. “But yeah, that’s really something to think about and I think he very well could have been one of them — could have joined the Republicans that we’re seeing on TV now saying, ‘I’m a lifelong Republican, but I can’t vote for our current candidate.’ I’m not positive.