Speaking about culture. In recent weeks, in the USA, the cultural debates have been focused on Virginia's Governor Ralph Northam. Like every single other governor in the USA, Ralph Northam is white. There isn't a single black governor of any state in America. All of them are white. That said, everyone is fighting racism there.
Racism is exactly what the governor of Virginia is being accused of right now. Because at some point someone dug out his school yearbook with a photo taken in 1984 of young Ralph with a blackface make-up. Back then, it was considered OK, but now in the USA, it's perceived as something unthinkable, as a sort of a caricature of black people. Even charcoal facial masks are perceived now as culturally unacceptable. Black people can apply charcoal masks, but it's not recommended for white people. Let alone putting on black makeup for Halloween for a white person, you can't even say that black people might as well paint their faces white.
You may remember that last fall, this very reckless remark got mega star Megyn Kelly fired from Fox.
Megyn Kelly: "What's racist about it? You're in for trouble if you're a white person who puts on blackface for Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. When I was a kid it was OK".
Her contract of 25 million a year worth was disposed, she got her cancellation fee, and now Megyn Kelly is dead for American television.
Under the threat of the impeachment, Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam was demanded to apologize. And he did. He said that he was wearing a costume of Michael Jackson. And here's what he added later on.
"That photo and a racist and offensive attitude it represents doesn't reflect the person I am today or the way I had conducted myself as a soldier, a doctor, and a public servant. I'm deeply sorry, I can't change the decisions I made and can't undo the harm my behavior caused then and today".
Afterward, and this is a character trait of the American political culture, the New York Times, in two weeks after the apology, published an article attacking Northam for not having apologized because he is stubborn in his racism. He won't apologize, they say. Although, let me repeat, it had been over two weeks after the apology at the time of publication of the article. The style of the article reminds of the prosecutor accusation during the Stalin era trials over Trotsky's opposition.
"He hid away from the people, hoping that attention and emotions would dissipate. He became obstinate with people who simply wanted an explanation. This is how a person behaves when he doesn't understand the weight of American racial history, the role it continues to play or the racially divisive moment we are in".
However, the most fascinating part of the Virginia governor story is not that he may go through impeachment because of a 1984 photo, the one he hasn't allegedly apologized for. But that he feels quite safe in his governor's office after his support for the bill on abortions that is being prepared now in his state. Governor Ralph Northam is confident that women in his state are not yet empowered enough. They need even more freedom. Up to the point that a woman ought to have the right for an abortion at any stage of gestation, up to the date of birth. Moreover, it doesn't concern only justifiable abortions. It's just that a woman should have a right to kill. And she may make this decision at her own discretion together with her doctor.
It's not everything about Ralph Northam.
Ralph Northam: "If a woman is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that's what the mother and the family desired and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother".
The discussion is about whether to kill the baby right now, or not. If the mother wants it, then, according to the new law of the State of Virginia, she will be able to do it. Just because as a woman she is unrestrictedly empowered. While the father will understand. Or, at least, will have to understand. He must not oppose the empowerment of women.
Similar laws are being prepared in several states: Vermont, Illinois, and New Mexico. To be fair, most Republicans are against the right to kill a baby at any stage of gestation up to the day of birth. But the fact that Democrats are pushing it in earnest is the reality of today's American culture. The culture of life and death. The discussion around the empowerment of women is going on.
