Antwon Mitchell
Banned
Alabama’s Governor, Kay Ivey, Apologizes for Blackface Skit in College
Alabama’s Governor, Kay Ivey, Apologizes for Blackface Skit in College
ATLANTA — Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama apologized on Thursday — “with genuine remorse,” she said — for wearing blackface during a skit in 1967 while she was a student at Auburn University, the latest in a string of revelations of public figures who engaged in racist pantomime.
The fallout from the revelation was unclear on Thursday afternoon. Ms. Ivey, 74, is a Republican, and her party holds all statewide offices and controls the State Legislature. Some black leaders in Alabama said they were still processing the details, first published at al.com, a statewide news service.
But others were calling on her to step down.
“There’s some things you just can’t do,” said Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama N.A.A.C.P. “If you participated in blackface and things like that then you should not be governor of any state.”
The revelation of Ms. Ivey’s participation in the racist skit is likely to rekindle the conversation about white Americans’ use of blackface, a demeaning depiction of black people with roots in minstrelsy that dates to the 1830s.
This year Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, a Democrat, acknowledged reports that he had appeared in his medical school yearbook in a photograph he described as “clearly racist and offensive.” Mr. Northam then denied that it was him in the photograph, only to reveal that he had once blackened his face for a Michael Jackson costume.
Mr. Northam’s past actions, combined with an admission by the state’s attorney general, Mark R. Herring, that he had worn blackface as a college student, ignited a political firestorm in Virginia that soon fizzled. Both Mr. Northam and Mr. Herring kept their jobs.
The facts of Ms. Ivey’s participation in the skit at her alma mater were publicized after the discovery of a 52-year-old audio recording from “Auburn University Profiles,” a college radio show. The recording features Ms. Ivey, then the vice president of Auburn’s student body, and Ben LaRavia, who was her fiancé at the time.
On the recording, the show’s interviewer asks the couple to share a few of their “most hilarious moments” from a skit night at the Baptist Student Union.
“As I look at my fiancée across the room, I could see her that night,” Mr. LaRavia says in the recording. “She had on a pair of blue coveralls and she had put some black paint all over her face and she was — we were — acting out this skit.”
Mr. LaRavia said the skit involved “crawling around the floor looking for cigar butts,” and that it “certainly got a big reaction out of the audience.”
Gina Maiola, a spokeswoman for Ms. Ivey, said the interview was discovered as Auburn was digitizing years of old audio tape in its archives. The state school’s government affairs office made the governor’s office aware of the recording on Tuesday, and Ms. Ivey first listened to it on Wednesday, Ms. Maiola said. The audio was released by the governor’s office on Thursday.
In a prepared statement, Ms. Ivey said that she did not recall the skit or the interview, but that she would “not deny what is the obvious.”
“I fully acknowledge — with genuine remorse — my participation in a skit like that back when I was a senior in college,” she said. “While some may attempt to excuse this as acceptable behavior for a college student during the mid-1960s, that is not who I am today, and it is not what my administration represents all these years later.”
She added: “I offer my heartfelt apologies for the pain and embarrassment this causes, and I will do all I can — going forward — to help show the nation that the Alabama of today is a far cry from the Alabama of the 1960s. We have come a long way, for sure, but we still have a long way to go.”
Alabama must now deal with the fact that a second governor in a row has been tainted by high-profile scandal. In April 2017, Ms. Ivey, then the lieutenant governor, took over as governor after her Republican predecessor, Robert Bentley, resigned amid a sex scandaland an impeachment inquiry.
Ms. Ivey, who had previously served as state treasurer, became the second woman to lead the state.
In 2017, she signed into law the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, which prohibits moving or changing memorials, including the numerous memorials to the Confederacy that dot the state.
Alabama is 69 percent white, and Ms. Ivey cruised to victory last November, defeating Walt Maddox, the Democratic mayor of Tuscaloosa.
Alabama Republicans appeared to be rallying around Ms. Ivey. In a statement on Thursday, Terry Lathan, chair of the Alabama Republican Party, said the party “appreciates and supports Governor Kay Ivey taking ownership of and responsibility for this 50-plus-year-old incident.”
“While it occurred when she was a college student, Governor Ivey has stood up, admitted her mistake and offered a sincere apology though she has no recollection of the event,” Ms. Lathan said. “Her extraordinary record of public service shows her ability to work with all people regardless of race, religion or party affiliation. We stand with Governor Ivey uniting our state for a greater future.”
In an interview with al.com, State Representative John Rogers, an African-American Democrat from Birmingham, joined the state N.A.A.C.P. in calling for Ms. Ivey to step down. State Representative Juandalynn Givan, Democrat of Birmingham, told al.com that she did not accept Ms. Ivey’s apology.
And Terri A. Sewell, the lone Democrat among Alabama’s seven United States representatives, said in a statement that Ms. Ivey’s admission opens old wounds.
“Governor Ivey’s actions were reprehensible and are deeply offensive,” Ms. Sewell said. “Her words of apology ring hollow if not met with real action to bridge the racial divide.”
Alabama’s Governor, Kay Ivey, Apologizes for Blackface Skit in College
- Aug. 29, 2019
ATLANTA — Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama apologized on Thursday — “with genuine remorse,” she said — for wearing blackface during a skit in 1967 while she was a student at Auburn University, the latest in a string of revelations of public figures who engaged in racist pantomime.
The fallout from the revelation was unclear on Thursday afternoon. Ms. Ivey, 74, is a Republican, and her party holds all statewide offices and controls the State Legislature. Some black leaders in Alabama said they were still processing the details, first published at al.com, a statewide news service.
But others were calling on her to step down.
“There’s some things you just can’t do,” said Benard Simelton, president of the Alabama N.A.A.C.P. “If you participated in blackface and things like that then you should not be governor of any state.”
The revelation of Ms. Ivey’s participation in the racist skit is likely to rekindle the conversation about white Americans’ use of blackface, a demeaning depiction of black people with roots in minstrelsy that dates to the 1830s.
This year Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, a Democrat, acknowledged reports that he had appeared in his medical school yearbook in a photograph he described as “clearly racist and offensive.” Mr. Northam then denied that it was him in the photograph, only to reveal that he had once blackened his face for a Michael Jackson costume.
Mr. Northam’s past actions, combined with an admission by the state’s attorney general, Mark R. Herring, that he had worn blackface as a college student, ignited a political firestorm in Virginia that soon fizzled. Both Mr. Northam and Mr. Herring kept their jobs.
The facts of Ms. Ivey’s participation in the skit at her alma mater were publicized after the discovery of a 52-year-old audio recording from “Auburn University Profiles,” a college radio show. The recording features Ms. Ivey, then the vice president of Auburn’s student body, and Ben LaRavia, who was her fiancé at the time.
On the recording, the show’s interviewer asks the couple to share a few of their “most hilarious moments” from a skit night at the Baptist Student Union.
“As I look at my fiancée across the room, I could see her that night,” Mr. LaRavia says in the recording. “She had on a pair of blue coveralls and she had put some black paint all over her face and she was — we were — acting out this skit.”
Mr. LaRavia said the skit involved “crawling around the floor looking for cigar butts,” and that it “certainly got a big reaction out of the audience.”
Gina Maiola, a spokeswoman for Ms. Ivey, said the interview was discovered as Auburn was digitizing years of old audio tape in its archives. The state school’s government affairs office made the governor’s office aware of the recording on Tuesday, and Ms. Ivey first listened to it on Wednesday, Ms. Maiola said. The audio was released by the governor’s office on Thursday.
In a prepared statement, Ms. Ivey said that she did not recall the skit or the interview, but that she would “not deny what is the obvious.”
“I fully acknowledge — with genuine remorse — my participation in a skit like that back when I was a senior in college,” she said. “While some may attempt to excuse this as acceptable behavior for a college student during the mid-1960s, that is not who I am today, and it is not what my administration represents all these years later.”
She added: “I offer my heartfelt apologies for the pain and embarrassment this causes, and I will do all I can — going forward — to help show the nation that the Alabama of today is a far cry from the Alabama of the 1960s. We have come a long way, for sure, but we still have a long way to go.”
Alabama must now deal with the fact that a second governor in a row has been tainted by high-profile scandal. In April 2017, Ms. Ivey, then the lieutenant governor, took over as governor after her Republican predecessor, Robert Bentley, resigned amid a sex scandaland an impeachment inquiry.
Ms. Ivey, who had previously served as state treasurer, became the second woman to lead the state.
In 2017, she signed into law the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act, which prohibits moving or changing memorials, including the numerous memorials to the Confederacy that dot the state.
Alabama is 69 percent white, and Ms. Ivey cruised to victory last November, defeating Walt Maddox, the Democratic mayor of Tuscaloosa.
Alabama Republicans appeared to be rallying around Ms. Ivey. In a statement on Thursday, Terry Lathan, chair of the Alabama Republican Party, said the party “appreciates and supports Governor Kay Ivey taking ownership of and responsibility for this 50-plus-year-old incident.”
“While it occurred when she was a college student, Governor Ivey has stood up, admitted her mistake and offered a sincere apology though she has no recollection of the event,” Ms. Lathan said. “Her extraordinary record of public service shows her ability to work with all people regardless of race, religion or party affiliation. We stand with Governor Ivey uniting our state for a greater future.”
In an interview with al.com, State Representative John Rogers, an African-American Democrat from Birmingham, joined the state N.A.A.C.P. in calling for Ms. Ivey to step down. State Representative Juandalynn Givan, Democrat of Birmingham, told al.com that she did not accept Ms. Ivey’s apology.
And Terri A. Sewell, the lone Democrat among Alabama’s seven United States representatives, said in a statement that Ms. Ivey’s admission opens old wounds.
“Governor Ivey’s actions were reprehensible and are deeply offensive,” Ms. Sewell said. “Her words of apology ring hollow if not met with real action to bridge the racial divide.”