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OPINION
This picture by itself in 2019 is offensive. In context, taken in 1984 it is not. In fact the picture is an example of not how far we have come since it was taken, but how far we had already come since the civil rights act was passed in 1964. Governor Northam didn’t grow up under segregation, just as he didn’t grow up during world war II. He most likely watched the comedy show Hogans Heroes about prisoners in a German pow camp where half of the characters wore the NAZI swastikas on their uniforms, and said “Heil Hitler” at least half a dozen times per half hour show. He probably watched Archie Bunker and George Jefferson go at it while their families refereed. He grew up in a time where the Klan had been diminished to buffoons, and were ridiculed at Halloween. The blackface was part of the that ridicule of the Klan. Context is everything.
Should he regret doing it? In hindsight we all have things we wished we had more thought out a little better before we did something, especially in front of a camera. It is not racist, as much as it is cringe worthy.
Make no mistake, I dislike his politics and wish he would resign over his abortion statements. But fair is fair, and this situation should not be used to crucify him. He doesn’t deserve that.
What this situation should be used for instead is a benchmark. It should be used as the line that should be drawn in the sand to let people off the hook for their pasts. Kamala Harris has just been outed for sleeping her way to government appointments by someone 30 years her Senior. Her indiscretions should be let go too. Basically, political accountability needs to be real. It needs to be accurate, and it needs to be contemporary. We all have skeletons in our closets, and if we are going to crucify good people for decades old errors in judgments, some which are not anything more than targeted attacks, or misplaced conclusions to satisfy an end, we will have less god people running for office which means even more idiots deciding our futures. We have reached idiot capacity already, and we need better people to run if we are going to rescue this Republic from collapse.
If you want to attack him, attack him on what he said about infanticide. He supports it, he doubled down on it, and it happened a week ago. His Halloween costume from 1984 is irrelevant. It should stay irrelevant, as should all kinds of other good peoples errors in judgments from their past. Deal with things that matter.
If the black leadership cannot take his explanation at face value then they are the problem, not him, or his Halloween outfit. Seeking retribution from someone who never owned a slave, never attended a KKK rally, and is simply the product of the educational system that was miscalculated by someone other than him, makes zero sense. That would be like society holding a 60 year old illiterate black man accountable for his station in life when it was the school that failed to provide him with a proper education. It’s not fair, and its not right.
This incident needs to be a benchmark. Nothing more nothing less.
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