OPINION:
Will the real Mark Herring please stand up?
As you’re probably aware, but perhaps have not concluded, it’s not a good sign when the pot calls the kettle black.
“Say what?” you might ask. Who’s the pot and who’s the kettle? Well, both are in Virginia.
The pot in this unfolding political story is Mr. Herring, Virginia’s Democratic attorney general, and the kettle, is Ralph Northam, the current governor who sullied himself with blackface to portray an entertainer in 1984 when he was a medical school student.
After a torrent of news coverage over a racist photo in his med school yearbook, Mr. Northam attempted to control the narrative of his offensive actions by saying “personal history mirrors that of this commonwealth … In the place and time where I grew up, many actions that we regard as abhorrent today, were commonplace.”
What does that even mean? He heard a man was being lynched so he would put on a white hood to watch?
A former Republican who continues playing the role of a Democrat, Mr. Northam, 59, was reared along Virginia’s Eastern Shore — which brings the storyline to one of the commonwealth’s next door neighbors, Tennessee.
Mr. Herring, 57, was born in Johnson City, Tennessee, and became a Virginian after moving there with his family. He attended the highly prestigious University of Virginia, where in 1980, “some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song,” Mr. Herring said in a statement.
“It sounds ridiculous even now writing it. But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes — and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others — we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup.”
Whatcha mean “we,” Mr. Herring? And “our?” Name your buddies. The anonymous “friends” who made the suggestion.
Offer Kurtis Blow a personal apology for your “cultural appropriation.” As a Democrat, that’s the least you can do. Those are the breaks, huh?
Afterward, Mr. Herring should hold a news conference and apologize for being the type of politician who, to hear him tell, goes along to get along. The type of leader who hasn’t always led by example, eh? The type of politician who, like Mr. Northam, saw a red state trending purple and painted his wagon blue.
As the Commonwealth in Crisis story continues to unfold, it’s worth noting at this point that all five top elected leaders in Virginia are all Democrats — Messrs. Northam and Herring; Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, who’s facing sexual abuse allegations; and Sens. Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 running mate, and Mark Warner, a former governor.
Keep in mind, too, that Virginians are trying their best to erase historical markers of the state’s past, chiefly by defacing and dismantling monuments and memorials, and even renaming schools. Such out-of-sight/out-of-mind efforts are merely mirages.
There’s not much the pot and the kettle do.
Right off the bat, Mr. Herring said Mr. Northam should resign. Then he tried to turn down the heat once his own offensive and indefensible actions hit the headlines. As a leader and a lawyer in a position to succeed, he knows well the axiom “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Mr. Herring, as the guardian of law and order in Virginia, spoke his political mind too soon. Indeed, he should have held his opinion to himself — until all the facts were in.
It’s never a good sign when a politician sworn to uphold the law reminisces about his college days (daze?) and becomes a pot who calls a kettle black.
Mr. Herring and Mr. Northam should resign.
⦁ Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
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