Over at CNN, they have a fascinating piece on Gov. Ralph Northam’s “political revival,” or “How a one-time ostracized governor became a progressive champion.” Here are a few highlights:
- The “blackface” scandal was the “inflection point between [Northam] being a run-of-the-mill executive and the progressive leader he has become.”
- The fact that Northam even “survived” – let alone “in the two years since, become a progressive champion” – “was a surprise even to his most ardent supporters.”
- Northam “was forced to address his own racial ignorance,” also “publicly pledged to both learn from his racial blind spots and to commit his administration to combating racial inequality.”
- According to Northam: “‘The reality is that this Black oppression is alive and well in 2021, it’s just in a different form’…arguing that while he tried to work on equity before the yearbook incident, the scandal ‘brought it into certainly a much stronger focus.'”
- A former Northam aide commented, “When he made the commitment to equity, that felt significant because it was a North Star for all of our work and a part of every conversation.”
- House Majority Leader Charniele Herring commented, “He could have put a barrier up, shut us down, but he listened and that was key, and strive to understand and realize sort of the own privilege that he had. And he talks about that sort of privilege that he was able to have all his life.”
- According to Del. Jay Jones, who Northam endorsed for Attorney General, Northam “is the most consequential governor that we have ever had…And everyone who is running for office in Virginia is looking to him for support.”
- Northam: “As a White person, talking about things like systemic racism and Black oppression … I think I have a really interesting perspective on that and can help people.”
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