Alabama NAACP Calls on Gov. Ivey to Resign

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2019/06/48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:2048;s:6:"height";i:1152;s:4:"file";s:51:"2019/06/48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:9:{s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:51:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:51:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-336x189.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:189;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:51:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-771x434.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:434;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:49:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:51:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:51:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-300x300.jpg";s:5:"width";i:300;s:6:"height";i:300;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:51:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-553x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:553;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:51:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-470x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:470;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:51:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-e1560959872149-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:11:{s:8:"aperture";i:0;s:6:"credit";s:10:"Hal Yeager";s:6:"camera";s:6:"ILCE-9";s:7:"caption";s:178:"Governor Kay Ivey participated in a Historical Marker Installation Ceremony at Salem Missionary Baptist Saturday, June 8, 2019 in Greensboro, Ala.  (Governor's Office/Hal Yeager)";s:17:"created_timestamp";i:1560012202;s:9:"copyright";s:4:"2019";s:12:"focal_length";s:3:"191";s:3:"iso";s:4:"2500";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:6:"0.0005";s:5:"title";s:57:"Governor Kay Ivey Historical Marker Installation Ceremony";s:11:"orientation";i:0;}}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Hal Yeager
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => Alabama Governor's Office
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_edit_lock] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1560792001:74
        )

    [_wp_attachment_backup_sizes] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:10:{s:9:"full-orig";a:3:{s:5:"width";i:2048;s:6:"height";i:1365;s:4:"file";s:28:"48027991682_123f37a264_k.jpg";}s:14:"thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:11:"medium-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-336x224.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:224;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:10:"large-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-771x514.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:514;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"wbhm-icon-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:34:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"wbhm-featured-square-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-300x300.jpg";s:5:"width";i:300;s:6:"height";i:300;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:23:"wbhm-featured-home-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-467x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:467;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:27:"wbhm-featured-carousel-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-398x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:398;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:19:"post-thumbnail-orig";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"48027991682_123f37a264_k-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 0
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => error
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"sizes";a:1:{s:4:"full";a:2:{s:7:"success";b:0;s:5:"error";s:52:"Backup failed: The backup directory is not writable.";}}s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:0;s:14:"optimized_size";i:0;s:7:"percent";i:0;}}
        )

)
1666465417 
1567164491

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey apologized Thursday for appearing in blackface in a skit more than 50 years ago while a student at Auburn University. Ivey says she does not remember the incident but does not deny it happened.

Evidence of the skit appeared in a 1967 radio interview discovered by Auburn officials working to digitize university records, according to the governor’s office. They shared the material with Ivey’s office on Tuesday. In the interview, Ivey’s then-fiancé, Ben LaRavia, describes a skit at the Baptist Student Union in which Ivey wore coveralls and black paint on her face. It was called “Cigar Butts”

“This skit, it did not require a lot of talent, as far as verbal talent, but it did require a lot of physical acting such as crawling around on the floor looking for cigar butts and things like this, which certainly got a big reaction out of the audience,” LaRavia said.

Ivey was vice president of the student government association at the time.  She was married LaRavia for a short time before divorcing.

In a video released Thursday, Ivey offered her “heartfelt apologies for the pain and embarrassment this causes.” She called the skit deeply regrettable.

“I will do all I can going forward to help show the nation that the Alabama of today is a far cry from the Alabama of the 1960s,” Ivey says.

In a statement, Ivey says she does not remember the skit, but would not “deny what is the obvious.”   The statement goes on to say “while some may attempt to excuse this as acceptable behavior for a college student during the mid-1960s, that is not who I am today, and it is not what my Administration represents all these years later.”

The Alabama chapter of the NAACP has called on Ivey to resign.

“It may have been 52 years ago when the skit happened, but it apparently still shapes who she is today,” Alabama NAACP President Benard Simelton said in a statement. The statement noted that the Republican governor signed a law that protects longtime monuments, including Confederate monuments, from being taken down.

Ivey’s office says she does not plan to resign. A spokeswoman says “the governor’s commitment to serve the state is unchanged and unwavering.”

Alabama’s only black member of Congress, Democratic Representative Terri Sewell, says Ivey’s “actions were reprehensible and are deeply offensive. Her words of apology ring hollow if not met with real action to bridge the racial divide.”

But Alabama’s Senate Minority Leader, Democrat Bobby Singleton, who is black, tells the Associated Press he appreciates Ivey “owning the incident.”

“While I think this is something that is disturbing in the African American community, for someone to make a mockery of us and our culture, I appreciate her for at least owning it and coming out publicly with it,” Singleton says.

Alabama Republican Party Chairwoman Terry Lathan released a statement expressing support for Ivey.

“While it occurred when she was a college student, Governor Ivey has stood up, admitted her mistake and offered a sincere apology, though she has no recollection of the event,” Lathan says.  “Her extraordinary record of public service shows her ability to work with all people regardless of race, religion or party affiliation.”

 

Greetings from an Indian Railways coach, with spectacular views from Mumbai to Goa

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Alabama inmate asks to meet with governor ahead of execution

Anthony Boyd is scheduled to be executed Thursday evening by nitrogen gas at the William C. Holman Correctional Facility. A jury convicted Boyd of capital murder for the 1993 burning death of Gregory Huguley in Talladega County.

Hyundai still committing billions to Louisiana steel mill after ICE raid in Georgia

The immigration raid last month has analysts questioning whether President Donald Trump’s immigration and manufacturing goals are at odds.

Mental exercise can reverse a brain change linked to aging, study finds

Scientists have found the first compelling evidence that cognitive training can boost levels of a brain chemical that typically declines as people age.

The federal government is still shut down. Here’s what that means across the country

The federal government remains shut down. The NPR Network is following the ways the shutdown is affecting services across the country.

Mamdani’s rise in NYC reflects generational fight within the Democratic Party

Newcomer Zohran Mamdani, age 34, has used social media and big progressive ideas to shoulder past Andrew Cuomo, who's 67 and long a member of Democratic Party royalty.

More Front Page Coverage