in the press conference that if he can still be effective, he wants to continue to lead. but, you know, the entirety of the democratic caucus in the state of virginia has let him know he is not effective. based on, mind you, what governor northam himself said. yesterday no one in virginia and even national folks, i m a senior adviser at priorities usa, the chairman of priorities usa hadn t said anything. i know you had derrick from the naacp just on. no one said anything until governor northam came out with his statement that said there was a photo of me published in 1984 and i am sorry. he said it was him. now, mind you, in that statement he didn t tell us whether he was in the hood or the blackface. come to find out today he doesn t think he s either one of them. this just doesn t cut it. let me read what he did say yesterday. i ll read a portion of it that you reference, because he said, earlier today a website published a photograph of me in 1984.
intolerance with political expediency. the naacp is nonpartisan. i stand on the value system that at african-americans, with other ethnic minorities, we should be afforded dignity and equal protection under the law and move beyond the sad racial past and look toward a more productive future. i hear you, but african-americans reliably vote democrat. do you think the democratic party deserves that support, that they ve earned african-american support? you have to understand, political parties are vehicles for agenda. naacp, we establish an agenda. it is up to the political parties to determine whether or not they want to add our political agenda into their platforms. there have been times in history when african-americans support the republican party or the republican party and the
i had always liked michael jackson. i actually won the contest because i had learned how to do the moonwalk. i want to get immediate reaction from the president of the naacp. this group has called on governor northam to resign. naacp president derek johnson joins me right now. i want to get your reaction to northam s refusal to resign and his claim that he had no idea this photo was even in his yearbook. whether it was him in blackface, and he was in the party, in the room, or that it was in the yearbook, is an indication that blackface was a problem in 1984 as it is today. being an individual from the south, it is unfortunately a cultural norm for too many people to accept racism. for him not to acknowledge this on the front end, to identify this as a problem, to object to
african-americans, we have journeyed through this country for many years, objecting to and fighting caricatures of us in a negative light. the naacp, one of the biggest things we took on was against birth of a nation which had individuals in blackface. the naacp understood what it went when ronald reagan went to the county and the message it sent. we understand lee atwater and willie horton. we understand the influence fox news has had, and glenn beck. we understand the environment in which he existed. it s an environment that he should have none better or acknowledged the wrongness of that activity well before now. have you had a chance to speak to northam? i have not spoken with northam. our state president in virginia has spoken with him. and our position is the same. we think it s time for him to resign. what do you want to say to him? well, you know, whether he
rooted in the fact that your voice changed. there s a correlation there, right? two nicknames, the nickname goose reporter: what about the other nickname? how do you ascribe that? as i said, you would need probably to go talk to the folks that put that in the yearbook and also the folks that used to refer to me. i don t know what their intent was. reporter: governor, i wanted to ask, you said to resign would be the easier path to take. as you ve noted, multiple leaders, including the naacp, black caucus here in virginia, that s the path they ve asked you to take. yes. reporter: why not out of respect for their wishes i will continue to have a discussion with them. i really think if they will listen to me, again, i would hate to be so redundant, but for them to know that this was not me in that picture.