Virginia governor’s yearbook page shows men in blackface and KKK robe

A picture from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s (D) medical school yearbook emerged Friday showing a man in blackface and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe pictured next to Northam on his page.

The photo was obtained by The Virginian-Pilot Friday and comes from the 1984 yearbook housed in the Eastern Virginia Medical School library.

{mosads}With his full name at the top of the yearbook page, there are four photos.

Northam, a pediatric neurologist by trade, clearly appears in three of the four photos, one of which shows him in a suit and tie posing for a headshot.

It is unclear in the photo who is wearing the KKK robe and who is dressed in blackface. Both figures are holding canned beverages and the person in blackface is smiling.

Beneath the photo is a caption listing Northam’s alma mater, the Virginia Military Institute, and a line with “Interest: Pediatrics.”  

The photo comes just days after Northam made controversial comments about a late-term abortion bill that was proposed in Virginia.

The bill would loosen restrictions on third-trimester abortions in the state if passed.

Northam defended the bill on a radio show appearance days after it was introduced. 

“When we talk about third trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of, obviously, the mother, with the consent of the physicians — more than one physician, by the way — and it’s done in cases where there may be severe deformities, there may be a fetus that is nonviable,” he said.

The comments received widespread backlash among conservatives. 

Northam’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

A similar photo of a lawmaker in Florida surfaced earlier this month, forcing newly elected Secretary of State Michael Ertel (R) to resign. 

The photo showed Ertel dressed in blackface as a “Hurricane Katrina victim.”