The earthquake that shook Virginia’s government over the weekend exposed some of the ugliest, most threatening fault lines in our body politic.

Our beloved state had seemingly emerged from the tarnish of institutional racism into sunshine and progress and a path of continued prosperity.

There was no way, as Gov. Northam apparently hoped, to turn this whole sordid mess into a chance to have a conversation about race. Nor was there, as it would be in court, a chance of being considered innocent until proven guilty.

In politics, firestorms consume everything in their path. He tried to beat back the flames with a press conference on Saturday that only made things worse. The earthquake and its aftermath consumed an effective, well-liked, and ultimately tarnished man.

He will have a chance in years to come to find the vindication of his innocence that he has insisted on, but with the publication Friday of that page from his yearbook, and his seeming initial acknowledgment of it as ...