Virginia Gov. Northam Meets With Civil Rights Leaders

By Associated Press | Published on February 22, 2019

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has met with civil rights leaders at the Executive Mansion a day after forgoing a racial reconciliation event at a historically black school that student leaders asked him not to attend.

Northam met with members of the so-called Richmond 34 on Friday morning for breakfast. It’s a group of 34 Virginia Union University students who protested segregation and sought to integrate the dining facility at a Thalhimers department store nearly 60 years ago.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam greets, a member of the Richmond 34, Leroy Bray and his wife Cynthia, center, for a breakfast at the Governors Mansion at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. The Richmond 34 were a group of African Americans who defied segregation laws in the 1960’s (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Northam has been mired in scandal over a racist yearbook photo and an admission of wearing blackface earlier this month. Students at the VUU asked him not to attend the school’s commemoration of the Richmond 34 Thursday.

The Democratic governor told his guests Friday he’s trying to “bring good from what happened.”

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