Northam's Real Offense to African-Americans

Patrina Mosley is the Director of Life, Culture and Women's Advocacy at Family Research Council. This article appeared on Townhall.com on February 19, 2019.

Raise your hand if you’re a white Democrat who has NOT worn blackface.

I’m sure that’s a question that went through a lot of people’s minds after both the Virginia Governor and the state attorney general admitted to wearing racist costumes in the past.

The irony is that these revelations about a political party for whom the black vote is a lifeline are breaking at the start of Black History Month. Many Americans are still unaware of what blackface is or how it is offensive to African-Americans. In times past, rather than casting African-Americans in acting roles, the entertainment industry would dress their white performers in blackface to portray demeaning caricatures of blacks. This video by the Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture gives a good overview of the history of blackface and why it is so offensive.

In one sense, the lack of awareness about blackface is a good thing because it demonstrates that we have not had to deal with the issue in a long time. However, no other people group in the United States has endured more humiliation and cruelty than African-Americans, and the original motivation behind blackface carved a deep wound that is still healing. One recent triumph over this expression of racism was the success of Marvel’s Black Panther.

It is also interesting that these incidents of racism are surfacing on the heels of states attempting to adopt extreme abortion laws. The two issues go hand in hand—both have successfully demeaned African-Americans.

Days before Governor Northam’s yearbook photos depicting him in blackface or KKK attire (he still refuses to admit which one he is in the photo), he took a cue from the Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in calling for late-term abortion. Not content with that, he then doubled down on infanticide! Planned Parenthood hailed him as a “champion” for women’s progress for saying that it should not always be necessary to resuscitate a baby who survived a failed abortion attempt.

Besides blackface and KKK hoods, there is nothing more racist than annihilating a people group before they even have a chance at life. As the Rev. Michel Faulkner of New Horizon Church once said, “My people, the African-American people, did not ... endure 300 years of slavery and 100 years of Jim Crow law to face genocide in the 21st century.” In New York alone more black babies are aborted than born alive.

The eugenics movement has direct ties to the abortion industry, which has been a leading campaign contributor to the Democratic Party for decades (which has historically been the party of slavery, Jim Crow, and the KKK) in exchange for protecting abortion on demand. Governor Northam’s third largest campaign donor is Planned Parenthood, which dished out nearly $2 million to get him elected. Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger, once said, “We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.”

It is no accident that today nearly 80 percent of Planned Parenthood clinics are in minority communities, and, although 13 percent of American women are black, they receive over 35 percent of the abortions. According to the latest census data, just over 12 percent of the U.S. population is African-American, and yet over 30 percent of all 2014 abortions were committed on black babies. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the African-American population“grew at a slower rate than most other major race and ethnic groups in the country.” We have just approached the 400th anniversary of when slaves first arrived in the American colonies. How is it that African-Americans have been a part of this country since 1619and yet still only make up less than 13 percent of the nation?

The pro-life issue should make the African-American community reevaluate what will be their priority issue when heading into the next elections. Regardless of party affiliation, no other political issue is more important than the right to exist.