Updated 7:45 p.m. ET
With Virginia’s top two politicians mired in their own controversies, the state’s attorney general, Mark Herring, has revealed a racial incident in his own past. In a statement released Wednesday, he said he and friends attended a party in 1980 dressed as rappers they admired, including wearing wigs and “brown makeup.”
“In 1980, when I was a 19-year-old undergraduate in college, some friends suggested we attend a party dressed like rappers we listened to at the time, like Kurtis Blow, and perform a song,” he wrote. “It sounds ridiculous even now writing it. But because of our ignorance and glib attitudes — and because we did not have an appreciation for the experiences and perspectives of others — we dressed up and put on wigs and brown makeup.”
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