Opinion: If You Could Sign Northam and Kavanaugh’s Yearbooks Now

02.06.19
Opinion: If You Could Sign Northam and Kavanaugh’s Yearbooks Now (Ralph Northam's yearbook photo from 1984. (Illustration: Desmond Meagley))

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh are aligned with different political parties but have something big in common: yearbooks that haunt them.

So far Gov. Northam, a Democrat, is refusing to resign after a racist photograph surfaced from his 1984 medical school yearbook page. The photo pictures a man in blackface, smiling next to someone in Ku Klux Klan garb. Northam initially apologized for appearing in the picture but later denied he was in it. He has admitted to appearing in blackface — just not on this particular occasion. 

Justice Kavanaugh’s yearbook trouble hit after President Trump nominated him for the United States Supreme Court. At his confirmation hearings last fall, Justice Kavanaugh was called upon to explain a series of cryptic references — allegedly related to sex, flatulence and drinking — that appeared on his high school yearbook page from 1983. 

All this yearbook drama has me thinking: What if you could sign their yearbooks now?  Tweet us @itsYRmedia with your ideas, hashtag #YearbookSigning.

A YR Media resident designer imagines: If Gov. Ralph Northam or Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked you to sign his yearbook, what would you write? (Illustration: Desmond Meagley)

Support the Next Generation of Content Creators
Invest in the diverse voices that will shape and lead the future of journalism and art.
Donate Now
Support the Next Generation of Content Creators
Invest in the diverse voices that will shape and lead the future of journalism and art.
Donate Now