Virginia Governor Northam

[Sandy]

[Rvaughn]

[Dave Roberts]

There is no way that we in Virginia win in this. In the past 24 hours, one of the top Republicans in the General Assembly has also admitted to having edited a VMI annual that printed the pictures of several students in blackface, though he himself does not believe he appeared in any of the pictures. The racist past, as well as some of the racist present is coming to roost in several government, and all the institutions represented in these stories are supported by state funds and found it acceptable to publish this type of pictures. VMI, UVA, and EVMS are leading state and regional universities that found mocking of other races acceptable, even after they were admitted to the student bodies. By the way, if you are in VA, their graduates are in our churches of all denominations. The resignations of elected officials does not the deeper problems of the state. We are in for a rough ride.

The Lieutenant Governor is another matter. Determining whether actions in a hotel room in 2004 will take a lot of time. Until proven different, I believe the accuser, but the accused is entitled to his day in court and is considered innocent until proven guilty. Actually, he is the only one not asking for forgiveness, and the question for us Christians is, "Can we forgive the racist past of others knowing we are all in the midst of it?"

Interestingly, Rev. Al Sharpton was in Richmond yesterday at Virginia Union University, and he said that the governor and attorney general had to go He did not say that the lieutenant governor had to go. I'm not sure how that fits in, but it is disturbing.

There is a lot to be dealt with in Virginia, and our past is catching up with us--the past that we have yet to repent about. I have to wonder how this all is related to living in the state with the largest number of Confederate statues and memorials. How much are we still living in the Civil War's aftermath? Indeed, have Virginia (and many other Southern states) ever been reintegrated into the United States after our rebellion?

[Rvaughn]

[Rvaughn]

[William Thornton]

The Lt. Guv says the charges of rape are "demonstrably false." Curious how he plans to demonstrate this.

[Sandy]

[Sandy]

It would be difficult to say "I believe the accuser" without evidence. When Kavanaugh was accused, there were the calls (including from a few Republicans) for him to be withdrawn. The Republicans, for the most part, intended to just push it through and ignore the whole thing, calling it a distraction and claiming the accusers were lying or were being paid off. Ultimately, a few Republicans called for an investigation. Unfortunately, the "investigation" was strongarmed by the White House and they used their political power to make sure none of the evidence the accuser had was included, so it was a sham. The legal principle is innocent until proven guilty.

Let's be fair. The Republicans have zero credibility on this subject.

[Haruo]

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

[KeithE]

[William Thornton]

Voters wanted to vote for Trump. The last thing we need is some bureaucracy of vetting mandarins. There was more negative press on Trump than any candidate in history. People still voted for him. That's our system.

But I think the Dems are doing a good job helping with his re-election campaign. I didn't vote for him in 2016. Don't know about 2020 yet.

[Dave Roberts]

[KeithE]

[Rvaughn]

[Rvaughn]

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

[Stephen Fox]

implicated in blackface like incidents in the last ten years NPR reported over the weekend.

And today the black Wesleyan UMC church in Richmond rallied around Governor Northam.

National journalist Traci Thompson who was raised Southern Baptist in Georgia had a great piece on her facebook wall on all this. I'm with her and the Black Wesleyans of Richmond

[Dave Roberts]

There is an interesting sidelight to this today. According to WCVE-News (NPR station in Richmond), a donor has now funded a research project for students of Virginia State University and Virginia Union University to look at all available state school annuals from the 1960's through the 1990's to see what other examples of racism are there and what other politicians may have skeletons in their political closets from the time they were in school. The donor is paying the students from the two historic HBCU's at the rate of $25/hr. to compile this research from the university libraries and archives of UVA, ODU, Wiiliam and Mary, Virginia Tech, George Mason, Longwood, Radford, Mary Washington, VCU, and other state institutions such as the three medical schools and all the law schools, public and private. This could be quite revealing for both parties. I don't recall that the name of the donor was mentioned.