Top Virginia GOP Legislator Embroiled In Blackface Controversy

VIRGINIA — Virginia's ongoing scandal over racist behavior has ensnared its first Republican.

Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. was once the managing editor of a 1968 college yearbook that featured racial slurs and images of students in blackface. Revelations about the Virginia Military Institute yearbook was first reported by The Virginian-Pilot.

Virginia's political establishment has been in turmoil this week since Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam apologized, and then denied, that he had once wore blackface in his college days. As Northam's political career hangs by a thread, Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring admitted on Wednesday that he wore blackface at a college party in 1980. Adding to the political crisis, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, also a Democrat, has denied a woman's claim that she was sexually assaulted by him.

Several pages in the yearbook, called The Bomb, contains pictures of students in blackface, the Virginian-Pilot said. The N-word was published at least once in the yearbook, the outlet reported. Another message under one man's picture said: "He was known as the 'Barracks Jew’ having his fingers in the finances of the entire Corps."

In a statement released by his office Thursday, Norment said he was the managing editor of The Bomb, but condemns the use of blackface.

"The use of blackface is abhorrent in our society and I emphatically condemn it. As one of seven working on a 359-page yearbook, I cannot endorse or associate myself with every photo, entry, or word on each page. However, I am 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."

SEE ALSO:

• Virginia Politics In Turmoil After Second Blackface Incident
• Justin Fairfax Accuser Refutes Consensual Sex Claim

PHOTO: Drew Angerer/Getty Images