About face: Northam is speaker for Virginia Dems even though they called for his resignation over blackface photo

Governor Ralph Northam is speaking for Virginia Democrats at an upcoming convention, a decision being blasted, because the same group had previously called for his resignation over a controversial blackface photo.

“We're honored to have @GovernorVA speaking at our virtual state convention coming up in just a few days!” the Democrat Party of Virginia wrote on Thursday, in a tweet that left many scratching their heads.

Virginia Democrats were one of many groups to call for Northam to resign only a year ago, after the governor was found to be in a photo containing one person in blackface – whom many suspect is Northam – and another in a Ku Klux Klan outfit.

Northam did not confirm which disguised person in the photo he was, but confirmed he was in the photo. Though he apologized, Northam refused to leave office, a move Virginia Democrats slammed him for.

Now it appears it only took a year for all to be forgiven and for him to fall back into the good graces of his party.

“That was last year. People are much less sensitive about racial issues today,” one Twitter user wrote in response to Northam’s fresh speaking gig. 

The lack of outrage from Virginia Democrats, however, has earned the ire of critics, in the midst of protests around the nation over the death of George Floyd. 

“I mean just so we’re all clear here: everything from college mascots to syrup logos are being cancelled because Black Lives Matter and the @vademocrats are honored to welcome a guy who made a hobby out of wearing blackface, and our media is *DEAD* silent on it,” writer Stephen L. Miller tweeted. 

Northam has tried to spin his controversial public image during the police brutality protests. He’s moved to make Juneteenth – a date recognized as the end to slavery in the US – a state holiday in Virginia, and claimed this week in an interview that he has “learned a lot” about “black oppression” recently. 

“There's been an awakening of really what Black oppression is. A lot of people that look like me have learned a lot, have listened, have seen the pain that is in this country, that is in Virginia in the last few weeks,” he said. 

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