Washington (CNN) Former FBI Director James Comey called Thursday for the removal of Confederate statues in Virginia's capital in the wake of blackface scandals involving top statewide elected officials, in an op-ed for The Washington Post.

"Expressing bipartisan horror at blackface photos is essential, but removing the statues would show all of America that Virginia really has changed," Comey writes.

"There is no doubt that Virginia's leaders need to be held accountable for their personal history, but every Virginia leader is responsible for the racist symbols that still loom over our lives," Comey writes.

Last week, a photo from Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's 1984 medical school yearbook surfaced showing one person in blackface and another dressed in the Ku Klux Klan's signature white hood and robes. Northam initially apologized and said he was in the photo, but then said a day later that he was not one of the two people pictured. The governor said he had darkened his face to resemble Michael Jackson during a dance contest in 1984.

Read More