Gov. Ralph Northam's office defended the first lady's actions, saying that she handed the cotton to a group of students, not just to those who were African American.
Virginia first lady Pam Northam, wife of Gov. Ralph Northam has been accused of racial insensitivity for handing out raw cotton to African American children during a tour of the governor’s residence, before asking them to imagine being slaves and having to harvest crops.
“The Governor and Mrs. Northam have asked the residents of the Commonwealth to forgive them for their racially insensitive past actions,” she wrote. “I regret that I have upset anyone,” Pam Northam said in a statement on Wednesday, reported the Post. Earlier this month, Northam faced almost-unanimous calls for his resignation after a racist yearbook photo depicting him in blackface and another person dressed as a member of the Ku Klux Klan from 35 years ago surfaced online.
During the same conference, Northam admitted that he did once don blackface for a Michael Jackson dance contest, which he claims occurred around the same year that the offensive yearbook photo was alleged to have been taken. Northam even considered performing the moonwalk for reporters to prove his story but decided to abandon the idea when the first lady reminded him that the circumstances were “inappropriate.
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