Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam says he initially overreacted to a yearbook blackface photo in comments that set off a political crisis engulfing the state’s Democratic leadership.
Northam told “CBS This Morning” in an interview broadcast Monday that he was “in a state of shock” and mistakenly took responsibility for the image of a man in blackface and a man in a Ku Klux Klan outfit because he had never seen it before, even though it was on his yearbook page.
But then he said he took another look at the picture and realized that neither man in the picture was him.
He says he’s learned that he needs to better understand what it means to be “born in white privilege.” And he says everything happens for a reason, which is why he plans to dedicate the rest of his tenure as governor to policies aimed at helping his black constituents.
He says he’ll “focus on race and equity” as his “commitment to Virginia” for the next three years.
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