Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – The Republican Party of Virginia is looking through old yearbooks trying to find a picture of Attorney General Mark Herring wearing blackface while he was a student at The University of Virginia. With limited resources, the party is hoping offering a $1,000 reward for it will entice someone to help find it.
After Gov. Ralph Northam admitted to wearing blackface – although denied he was the person wearing it in a photo in his medical school yearbook – Herring said he too wore blackface to a college party when he and his friends dressed as rappers in 1980.
Herring has said he doesn’t know if a picture exists, but RPV Chair Jack Wilson believes there is one because Herring made the admission after an Associated Press reporter told his spokesperson someone had described the photo in detail to the reporter.
“We thought a reward might help getting that picture out into the public domain, which we believe it should be,” Wilson said.
The party believes it’s very important for Virginians to see the photo.
“The attorney general intends to run for governor, or at least he hasn’t denounced his bid for governor, so we think that’s something that Virginians ought to have an opportunity to consider when they start looking at who the next governor should be,” Wilson said.
Herring said in Dec. of 2018 he planned to run for governor in 2021, but that was months before he admitted to wearing blackface.
After Northam said he wore blackface while dressed as Michael Jackson for a dance contest in 1984, Herring called for him to resign.
Even though a picture of that dance contest hasn’t surfaced, the fact that he was in blackface has led to many to urge Northam to resign. Wilson said even without the photograph, Herring should resign, but he believes a picture would increase the pressure to do that.
The RPV doesn’t have any leads yet on where the photograph might be, according to Wilson, but they’ll pursue all avenues to find it.
WMAL reached out to Herring’s spokesperson for comment but didn’t hear back.
Copyright 2019 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (Photo: Republican Party of Virginia)
