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Virginia governor defies critics and refuses to quit over racist ‘blackface/KKK’ picture

Furious protesters rally outside the Governor's mansion to demand Ralph Northam's resignation.

Furious protesters rally outside the Governor's mansion to demand Ralph Northam's resignation. Photo: AP/Steve Helber

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has vowed to remain in office despite widespread calls for his resignation after a racist photo in his medical school yearbook page surfaced from more than 30 years ago.

Democrats and Republicans alike are demanding Ralph Northam step down. Photo: Virginia governor’s office

Mr Northam initially admitted he was pictured in the snapshot, which features a stereotyped “darkie” standing next to a student in full Ku Klux Klan regalia.

But within hours the Democrat governor was claiming neither individual was him – although he also conceded he had donned blackface on at least one other occasion to lampoon Michael Jackson.

Adding fuel to the fire, which has seen protesters picket his office, are the recollections of fellow former Eastern Virginia Medical School students who say his campus nickname was “Coonman”.

“It is definitely not me,” he told astonished reporters on Saturday, less than 24 hours after expressing his “deep regret” for appearing in the “shocking” image.

While making his initial apology Mr Northam declined to specify if he was the individual in blackface or Klan robes.

Northam first admitted he was in the offensive photo, but a few hours denied it was him. Photo: Twitter

Northam said that he had consulted with members of his family and classmates since seeing the photo for the first time on Friday and concluded he wasn’t in the photo, branding the 1984 yearbook “shocking and horrific.”

President Donald Trump was quick to capitalise on Mr Northam’s predicament by linking the racist image to to abortion and electoral politics.

In tweets on Saturday night, Trump criticised Northam over his recent comments on late-term abortion. He also said that Northam’s Republican opponent in the 2017 gubernatorial election, Ed Gillespie, would have won had the photo turned up during their campaign.

That wasn’t the only time the beleaguered governor and his medical school colleagues ridiculed black Americans, even dressing in drag to lampoon Supremes legend Diana Ross.

Leaders in both parties have repeatedly urged Northam to resign, saying his apology and about-face denial have fatally compromised his position and destroyed public trust.

Republicans in particular are savouring the controversy because Northam’s 2016 gubernatorial election campaign made heavy use of a TV ad that painted opponent Ed Gillespie as a champion of Islamophic and anti-black bigots.

Many leading politicians, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urged the governor to “do the right thing” after the photo emerged.

Pelosi called the photograph “racist and contrary to fundamental American values”.

-with AAP

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