Have you heard that the Republican Governor of Alabama wore blackface!? Probably not, since it was about 55 years ago.
Recently a "scandal" broke in Alabama about how 72 year-old Governor Kay Ivey wore blackface back when she was in college. Some groups, including the NAACP, are calling on her to resign over this.
Why should she resign for something she did 52 years ago that has no bearing on who she is now? My God - aren't people allowed to grow and change? I mean most of the country at that time was openly racist. Almost every college had minstrel shows and such. That doesn't mean they were okay to do, but we do need to consider the time period judging their actions. The entire victory of the Civil Rights movement happened because people changed their minds about racial issues and became more egalitarian. The whole goal was to change hearts and minds - so how can we be mad at somebody who once was racist, and now may have changed?
Take a look at the late Democratic Senator Robert Bryd, who went from being a foundering of numerous KKK chapters to being highly-regarded in the eyes of the NAACP and other civil rights organizations.
On the other hand, if you think the Alabama Republican Governor is a racist today and you have reasons to believe that, then you absolutely should oppose her. But oppose her based on what she believes now, and has believed in her recent history, not what she believed back in 1960-something. Racism is wrong, and if she is a racist today she should be opposed. That is true regardless of what she did back then.
Even as somebody who is pretty liberal myself, and definitely would never vote for Ivey, I think this is the dumbest kind of identity-politics based attack that we see in our country these days. It's unfortunate, because attacks like these push back against the very idea of forgiveness, and distract from genuine criticisms of the governor's record.
Additionally, the Left just needs to be smarter than this. This attack is a waste of time that will convince nobody and just makes liberals look like crybabies who are just hoping for something to be offended by. As if liberals needed to look even worse in that regard.
Fortunately, there seem to actually be some reasonable people in the comments section:
And lastly, people are putting together how transparently political this is. 
A far reach indeed...it is clear that some people are just trying to score points for their side in a political "game" rather than actually focusing on things that impact people's lives. This is all faux outrage that only brings down our level of national discourse.
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That is what I have to say about the main story, but it is also worth comparing this to the recent blackface scandal of Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. Northam was also asked to step down from his position for appearing in blackface, although in case he did that in the 80s. Honestly I think the same thing goes in either case - either they have changed or they haven't, and that's what matters. Still, Northam's case was more recent than this one by decades. He also refused to resign.
