We all know the story of the “Little Boy Who Cried Wolf”. He was a young shepherd tending his sheep. The boy wanted attention so he yelled there was a wolf chasing the sheep. The villagers came running to help, but the boy just laughed at them, telling them there was no wolf.

After they left, he did it again, with the same results. Once again the villagers told him not to yell about a wolf when there was none.

Later, a real wolf came and he cried out for help. No one came. When he didn’t come home that night, the villagers went to find him and found him crying because the sheep had run away from him because of the wolf. “You didn’t come,” he said. “Why?!”

To which the villagers replied, “Why would we? You lied twice. We can’t believe you anymore. No one believes a liar, even when he is telling the truth.”

Kind of like the last four days here in Virginia.

First a picture appears from the governor’s college yearbook. A very racist photo showing two men, one in blackface and one in a full KKK robe. You cannot tell who the men are, but the picture is on the governor’s yearbook page, with other photos of him. Mind you this is his yearbook from his graduation year from medical school, not high school.

At first he actually did the right thing. He admitted he was in the picture, and said he was sorry “for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo.”

But then, the next day, most likely after he’d had the opportunity to realize he’d ruined his political career, he changed his mind…and his story.

Suddenly he said he’d looked at the picture again and decided it wasn’t him. “I’m telling you the truth. It wasn’t me in the photo on my page.”

Huh????

He said he took responsibility that it was on his page, but he doesn’t remember posing for a picture like that and he doesn’t know who the people are.

He didn’t see the yearbook page, and he didn’t buy a yearbook. But he gave them the pictures to use. What? You graduate from a prestigious medical college in your home state and you don’t buy your senior college yearbook or even look at it? You never even saw it?

And don’t forget how he also said he heard some of the pictures got mixed up. Right. That sounds good, too.

But when asked if he’d ever worn a KKK robe he said he didn’t remember ever doing that, but he did wear blackface for a Michael Jackson dance contest. (And when asked by a reporter if he could still moonwalk, he appeared to be looking around to see if he had enough room on the podium to demonstrate that he could. Until his wife said that wasn’t an appropriate question.

And his nicknames listed in the yearbook of Coonman and Goose?? Gee, he remembered Goose was because of his changing voice, but he has no idea about Coonman?? If you don’t know what that means, let’s just say “coon” is an old derogatory term for an African American person, a term unfortunately commonly used in the part of Virginia where he grew up, and during that same time period.

Supposedly he’s spoken to some of his former classmates who say they don’t believe it was him, but as I write this, no one has come and and stated that, nor has anyone else spoken up and admitted they were in the picture, either with him or not. So who or what are we to believe?

This is crying wolf, only in reverse. It’s insulting. It’s racist. It’s a sad attempt to save his political career. And by now almost no one believes any of his story. How can we, because he changes it, and conveniently thinks of excuses, and can’t seem to remember a lot of things.

I would hope a pediatric neurologist would have an excellent memory. Wouldn’t you? Or is it just a convenient excuse? If his memory is that poor I wouldn’t want him taking care of my children or grandchildren.

He has embarrassed himself, his family, and the people of Virginia. One photo circulating online shows him during the press conference with his wife angrily staring at him. The picture we saw in the newspaper Sunday morning of him and his wife on the podium at that same press conference spoke volumes. She looked so embarrassed standing beside him, her head down, and not even looking at him. Yes, it was just one photo, but I felt so sorry for her. Sorry for the embarrassment he has caused to a fine medical school from which some of our friends or their children have graduated. Sorry for his family, and for those of us who live in this state, whether we voted for him or not. And I did vote for him.

Although there have been calls from politicians from all over the state for him to step down, he’s still refusing to resign. Obviously his ego won’t let him. He’s trying to hold on to a political career that has spiraled down so far it’s probably at the bottom of the ocean.

Virginia deserves better than this and so does our nation.

Mr. Northam, for everyone’s sake, please resign and let all of us move on.