KIRO NIGHTS

Gee: Virginia Governor Northam has all sides agreeing on racism

Feb 5, 2019, 6:58 AM | Updated: 7:00 am

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam...

(AP)

(AP)

The Governor Ralph Northam story got me thinking: I can’t remember the last time that all sides of politics agreed on racism. I thought I would see responses like these:

  • “That was over 30 years ago”
  • “When did blackface become unacceptable?”
  • “That’s not who he is today”
  • “He loves the black community”

Nope, everyone called for the governor to resign. That’s great! Wait, is this the beginning? Is it now time to denounce racism from all sides of politics?

RELATED: Plenty of blame to go around in Kirkland yogurt shop incident

The Republican side of did a great job over the weekend in calling out Governor Northam. I just hope it wasn’t because he was a Democrat, and that it was that they believe that racism is no longer tolerated.

That’s why I’m looking forward to hearing what Congress members Steve King or Mitch McConnell has to say about all of this.

I saw a comment on social media where someone said, “Now that’s really racist and he must resign.”

Are there levels to racism? Is there “really racist” or “kind of racist”? Is that like, “really pregnant” or “kind of pregnant”?

Governor Northam had an opportunity to make this a teachable moment. At his press conference, he could have used that time to take accountability for his actions, denounce racism, and ask for all of us to be better people.

Instead, Governor Northam chose to go another route, one that is even more damaging to this country. Today, we have so many adults that lie while thinking that we can’t see through the deceit.

So I’ll leave you with this: I have friends on the Right that aren’t racist, and I know people on the Left that don’t think that they are.

RELATED: How should we handle the political divisions among us?

Just because someone is on a certain side of politics, doesn’t mean that they are or aren’t racist. Racism lives on all sides of politics, and it needs to be denounced from all sides.

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Gee: Virginia Governor Northam has all sides agreeing on racism