I’m asking myself this week if our American culture has become one of swift public condemnation when presented with offense from a person’s distant past. Is there ever the possibility for redemption? And if there is, when do we allow for it?
I admit to feeling disgust over the revelation that the Virginia governor Ralph Northam wore black face or dressed as a Khan member for a picture that appeared in his medical school year book back in the 1980s. The unabashed racism he displayed back then is appalling and deeply offensive. And his later confession that he isn’t sure that it was him in the photo didn’t help at all. That was merely an admission that he could have, might have, or would have done such a thing. It spoke to his racist mindset back then. Inside, I screamed at the television: “You’re NOT redeeming yourself at all with those comments.”
But I might have thought differently about the possibility for redemption had he sincerely apologized for his small-minded and harmful thinking and behaviors back then. He should have explained how and why his thinking had evolved and then pointed to the many things he has done since then to further civil rights and racial justice in Virginia. I understand that he has a pretty good public policy track record. In fact, 58% of blacks in Virginia don’t won’t him to resign. If he were to do the things I suggested, then I would say redemption is called for and Virginians could reasonably let the man continue as governor. I hope he will do this. And then there was the bombshell of his lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, just days later being accused of sexual assault. Really?
In cases like his, we must be even slower to condemn. Our swift condemnation is dangerous after accusations of sexual abuse has become the norm. We have an investigative and judicial process that can and should be followed before we start condemning people and in his case, trying to throw him out of office. The alternative is that we condone the immediate ruin of any and everyone’s lives and careers based on mere allocations. None of us wants to be condemned without the ability to defend ourselves. Last year, I learned first hand how destructive false accusations can be and how easily they can be made by people who are motivated to make them. We must exercise caution. For now, I think Fairfax should remain in office and submit to a thorough investigation. In fact, he is asking the FBI to conduct one.
We’ve become too quick to condemn. I’ll be glad if we take a collective breath and consider our own past mistakes, the ways in which we have evolved, the good we have done since our change of heart and attitudes, and how we too believe in the possibility of redemption. And finally, I hope we return to a reliance on due process for those accused of wrong doing before we condemn them.
Young adults, rich & poor, make mistakes. Aging out of foolish, mean-spirited thinking is good; owning & correcting it by cultural growth & insight; better. Question: Principals, Deans, Advisors, re: official yearbooks printed with offensive material? Did they screen content? Brett Kavanough’s YB was offensive. Was this an old trend? Northam seems a basically good man. By owning his old past first, his new past demonstrates beneficial change, as you said. He took the wrong path. Fairfax? Suspicious timing. Upcoming: Jeff Besos VS AMI – Public figure, private life or public shame for political gain? Ugly stuff. Investigate. * I’m tired of it all.