While the number of US politicians calling for Virginia’s governor to resign over his “blackface-KKK” yearbook photo continues to rise, a photo of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell posing in front of a Confederate flag emerged on social media.
Former US Democrat presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton recently joined the chorus of politicians calling Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat himself, to resign over controversy sparked by the emergence of a 1984 photo from his yearbook that features two people, one wearing blackface while the other is clad in a KKK robe.
“This has gone on too long. There is nothing to debate. He must resign,” Hillary tweeted in response to a media report about both Virginia’s senators urging Northam to resign.
This has gone on too long. There is nothing to debate. He must resign. https://t.co/TjfS3vbcws
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 3, 2019
Her statement, however, evoked a mixed reaction on social media: while some seemed inclined to agree with Hillary, others focused their attention on controversy surrounding the 2016 presidential candidate.
https://twitter.com/thelefteater/status/1091909325080031237
https://twitter.com/David77111F/status/1091891234556338177
A number of people also recalled certain aspects of Hillary’s past, including her support of Northam’s election campaign and her relationship with Robert Byrd, a former high-ranking member of the Klan.
https://twitter.com/richandgreedy/status/1092057125961035776
Hillary Clinton’s calls were also echoed by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who tweeted that “Northam must resign, and those who try to help him stumble past this deserve scrutiny”.
Northam must resign, and those who try to help him stumble past this deserve scrutiny.
If you can’t understand how painful + eroding this is to American society, let alone the state of Virginia, take some time to read up this weekend.
To start, try “Between the World and Me.” https://t.co/Fm0srrPZgN
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 3, 2019
But while Ocasio-Cortez urged people to try and understand “how painful + eroding this is to American society, let alone the state of Virginia”, there were those who apparently did not see eye to eye with her on this matter.
https://twitter.com/LouisHaskett/status/1091890244180459520
Meanwhile, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also ended up being thrust into the limelight amid the Northam scandal, after a photo of the former posing in front of a Confederate flag emerged online.
According to Time Magazine, the picture was taken sometime in the early 1990s at a Sons of Confederate Veterans event.
This development prompted social media users to debate whether McConnell should be pressured to resign as well.
Sooo… Condemning a yearbook photo from 30 years ago is ok, but a political photo from 30 years ago is over the top? What happened to the same standards for similar things? Why not just condemn it all? Oh, then Mitch would have to call for his own resignation as well.
— Wood§tock (@jurawoodstock) February 3, 2019