Ralph Northam launching a “listening tour” about race amid blackface scandal

As Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam continues to resist calls to step down over the racist photo on his medical school yearbook page, he and his advisers are close to finalizing plans for a statewide “listening tour” to engage different communities in conversations about race.

Additionally, a source close to the governor said Northam is telling people privately that if the Commonwealth’s legislature puts a bill on his desk that gives them the authority to bring down Confederate statues that he would sign it.

BuzzFeed News first reported last week Northam and his advisers were looking at recalibrating the governor’s legislative agenda to focus closely on race and equality and that plan is now coming into focus. The plan includes the listening tour, as well as driving a possible increase in funding to Virginia’s five historically black colleges and universities. The goal of the listening tour, the adviser said, is not to just listen to Virginians but to talk about what he has learned from his own experiences. Northam hopes to regain the trust of nearly half the people in his state who believe that the events that have turned Northam into a household name have also rendered him unable to be an effective governor.