A group of Virginia activists has started a GoFundMe page to pay students of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) to look into the yearbooks of Virginia politicians for photographs of them wearing blackface. The fundraiser was started by Richmond organizer Chelsea Higgs Wise, and as of 3:16 CST Friday has raised $6,245 of it’s $10,000 goal.
The page reads,
“This GoFundMe is to raise funds to pay Virginia HBCU research students from local colleges $25 per hour to do the due diligence that should have already been done on all of Virginia’s state elected representatives. The plan is for research students to go through all of the yearbooks and then publish the results for public reference for current elected officials and those running for office in future elections.”
The outrage coming from Virginia follows the reports of Gov. Ralph Northam’s 1984 college yearbook page containing a photo of somebody wearing blackface, as well as somebody dressed as a Ku Klux Klan member. After that, Attorney General Mark Herring then admitted to reporters that he wore blackface to a party in college. Lieutenant Gov. Justin Fairfax, the state’s second African American lieutenant governor in its history, is also facing scandal after a woman, Vanessa Tyson, claims in a detailed report that Fairfax sexually assaulted her at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
All three politicians are Democrats. You can view the GoFundMe for yourself, here.
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