US governor sorry for racist yearbook photo

International Desk: Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has apologised after his 1984 medical yearbook page emerged, showing a photo featuring men in racist costumes.

"I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now," he said in a statement.

Black politicians in Virginia called the image "disgusting" and Republicans urged Mr Northam to resign.

The picture showed a man in blackface and another man in Ku Klux Klan robes.

It appeared on a page with other photos of Mr Northam as well as personal details about him.

He did not elaborate on which costume he was wearing, but said he appeared in a photograph that was "clearly racist and offensive".

The yearbook page, which came from the paediatric neurologist's time at Eastern Virginia Medical School, was first published by conservative website Big League Politics. He had earlier graduated from Virginia Military Institute.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper tweeted a picture of the page which it said it obtained from the medical school library.

Agencies


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