NBC Guest Blames Trump, Not Northam for 'Blackface' Scandals
An NBC panelist pointed the finger at President Donald Trump for the fact blackface controversies are currently in the news, according to Fox News.
The issue came to the forefront of headlines thanks to a controversy surrounding Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, whose 1984 medical school yearbook page contained a picture of a white man in blackface standing next to someone in Ku Klux Klan robes and a hood.
After initially taking responsibility for the photo and issuing an apology, Northam conducted a news conference Saturday where he denied being either person in the photo.
The governor did, however, admit that he had worn blackface at another point around the same time — for a dance contest where he was imitating Michael Jackson.
And that led a “Today” show guest to a very interesting conclusion.
According to Fox News, “Today” show co-host Craig Melvin asked a guest on the show Monday why blackface seems to be “all of a sudden front and center in America again?”
Besides the Northam scandal, Melvin cited the case of the secretary of state in Florida who resigned after a picture of him in blackface emerged from 2005, and two University of Oklahoma students who caused a scandal with a social media post involving blackface.
It was Princeton University’s Eddie Glaude Jr., a professor of religion and African-American studies, who attempted to bring the controversy around to be laid at President Donald Trump’s door
“I think it has something to do with what Donald Trump has unleashed,” Glaude Jr. said, according RealClearPolitics. (See the video here.)
“It has something to do with the reservoir that’s underneath our politics that can always be activated at any moment,” Glaude Jr. explained.
“So it’s not like it’s something new has happened. It’s always underneath. It’s the undertow.”
As Fox News reported, Glaude’s opinion was backed up by MSNBC political analyst Zerlina Maxwell.
“You know, young children of color are dealing with kids saying, ‘Build the wall,'” Maxwell told the panel, according to Fox. “Donald Trump has normalized this overt display of racism.”
Despite the opinions of various liberal commentators, Trump made his opinion of the Northam controversy abundantly clear when he called the governor’s actions “unforgivable.”
“Democrat Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia just stated, ‘I believe that I am not either of the people in that photo.’ This was 24 hours after apologizing for appearing in the picture and after making the most horrible statement on ‘super’ late term abortion. Unforgivable!”
Democrat Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia just stated, “I believe that I am not either of the people in that photo.” This was 24 hours after apologizing for appearing in the picture and after making the most horrible statement on “super” late term abortion. Unforgivable!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2019
Northam’s blackface controversy was a secondary reaction to comments the governor made days before the photo surfaced, when he hinted at approving of doctors allowing a baby to die after it’s born.
“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired,” Northam told a radio interviewer on Jan. 30. “And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
He didn’t elaborate on what the “discussion” would entail, but the meaning was unmistakeable.
Northam’s comments sparked national outrage by those who called his comments support of infanticide.
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