As of February 2019, The Democratic Party top 3 Virginia’s elected officials have been reeling under an avalanche of scandals. Many have been demanding that Gov. Ralph Northam resign after a page from his 1984 medical school yearbook surfaced showing a photo of a man in blackface and KKK robe. He had first admitted to being in that photo but then he backtracked the following day. The next in line, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has been accused of sexually assaulting a professor at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, and  the third in line, Attorney General Mark Herring has admitted this week to dressing in blackface during his time at the University of Virginia.

Can you believe that the 4th person in line is the same republican who won his election by the drawing of lots as the 2017 election results were so close, which kept the Virginia Congress under GOP majority control? His name is David Yancey.

But now, another shoe drops as a leading GOP Virginia lawmaker, Senator Tommy Norment becomes embroiled in controversy with the revelation that he was the editor of the VMI Virginia Military Institute’s yearbook which is full of racist photos and slurs.

Here’s the rest of the story…

On February 7, 2019, Katherine Hafner and Elisha Sauers of the Virginia Pilot penned the following report, “Virginia Sen. Tommy Norment was an editor for VMI yearbook filled with racist photos and slurs”

Excerpts:

“A Virginia Military Institute yearbook overseen by future state Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment in 1968 features a host of racist photos and slurs, including blackface.”

“The revelation about one of Virginia’s most powerful Republicans comes as the state’s Democratic governor and attorney general are facing calls to resign over their own admissions they wore blackface as young men.”

“Norment, R-James City County, was managing editor of The Bomb publication that year. He went to VMI in Lexington after graduating from James Blair High School in Williamsburg and has been a state senator since 1992.”

“On one page of the yearbook, a student poses in blackface, surrounded by others in costumes at a party. Another page features a photo of two men in blackface holding a football.”

“The N-word is used at least once. A student listed as being from Bangkok, Thailand, is referred to as a “Chink” and “Jap.”

“A blurb under one man’s picture says: “He was known as the ‘Barracks Jew’ having his fingers in the finances of the entire Corps.”

“The Bomb has been published continuously since 1897. The first black students were allowed to enroll at the institute in the fall of 1968.”

“When a reporter asked Norment to talk about the yearbook Thursday, the majority leader said, “The only thing I’m talking about today is the budget.”

“I’m here to pass a budget today,” he added when pressed as he headed into a Republican Caucus meeting in late morning.

“Hours later, he said in a statement issued by a spokesman: “The use of blackface is abhorrent in our society and I emphatically condemn it. As one of 7 working on a 359-page yearbook, I cannot endorse or associate myself with every photo, entry, or word on each page. However, I’m not in any of the photos referenced on pages 82 or 122, nor did I take any of the photos in question.”

“As my comment on Page 236 notes, I supported the integration of VMI. And in 1997, I led the effort to have my alma mater include women for the first time.”

“It has been the objective of this year’s Bomb staff to concentrate on the VMI as it exists in actuality, not in theory,” Norment wrote in the yearbook on a page for its editors. “There is an ever-broadening chasm between the two positions. With the completion of this editorial and the 1968 Bomb, I regretfully leave behind the theme ‘Honor Above Self’ and the loyalty of a few selected Brother Rats. Work on the Bomb has permitted me to release four years of inhibitions. And now, I am sorry our work is completed. It is a feeling only genuinely understood by those of us who labored in the ‘den of inequity.’”

“In his statement Thursday (2/8/19), Norment said: “With 114 editions of The Bomb available online dating back to 1885, I am not surprised that those wanting to engulf Republican leaders in the current situations involving the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General would highlight the yearbook from my graduation a half century ago … Despite all of the distractions from the continuing controversies involving our statewide elected officials, I am intent on fulfilling the work of the people of Virginia by passing a fiscally responsible budget that provides tax relief for working families.”

Shortly after the statement was issued, when the Senate adjourned for the day in mid-afternoon, Norment left through an alternative entrance to avoid reporters waiting outside the chamber.

Link to article: Virginia Sen. Tommy Norment was an editor for VMI yearbook filled …