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  • Rep. Bowman's primary challenger once compared Gov. Cuomo to Emmett Till. He didn't like being asked about it.

Rep. Bowman's primary challenger once compared Gov. Cuomo to Emmett Till. He didn't like being asked about it.

George Latimer was pushed to run because of Israel. Now he's getting defensive on issues of race.

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  1. I have a column for MSNBC about New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s disastrous decision to halt congestion pricing. Read it here.

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On Wednesday morning, Democratic Congressional candidate George Latimer stopped by The Brian Lehrer Show, a popular NYC-area radio program, to answer some questions ahead of his June 25th primary. He was specifically recruited by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)to run against incumbent Jamaal Bowman as a result of his strong public stance against the United States’ support of Israel. Latimer is white and Bowman is Black, the importance of which will quickly be made clear.

Latimer made a comment earlier this week in a virtual debate that seemed, well, racist, and I wanted to see if there was more where that came from. But the interview on Wednesday went even further, leading me to audibly gasp at one point—and it wasn’t even during the part about Israel.

For context, in March 2021, Latimer—who was then and still remains Westchester County Executive—took to Facebook to share some thoughts about the allegations of sexual harassment levied against then-Governor Andrew Cuomo. The part circled in red is what’s relevant to this story.

Then on Wednesday, around 34 minutes into Lehrer’s interview with Latimer, a woman identified as Becky from Westchester called in with a question for the candidate. She began with this:

My core comment is that as a Black person in the district, I find it impossible for you to adequately represent my interests and other people of color for a multitude of reasons. And let me go into one of them that I find really problematic. You know, when Andrew Cuomo was facing his reckoning for sexually harassing women and you came to his defense, you had the audacity to compare what Cuomo was experiencing to the lynching of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old child who was mutilated, murdered and lynched. And I find it completely offensive that you would make that comparison on top of a bunch of other things you do, and I’d like you to respond to that. 

Before Latimer could respond, she added this:

And with that response, what I don’t want you to do is engage in tokenization, because every time you’re asked about race you then start going into a litany of “I have Black friends” response. You know who has Black friends? Donald Trump. And proximity to blackness is not a shield from racism. And so I think you’re a racist, and I think that the way that you engage with people of color in your district who ask you hard questions, you respond by being very aggressive with them, very combative with them, and you marginalize them as you go into your response. And so I want you to respond to how you could adequately represent somebody like me when I think that the way that you come for me and people like me actually attacks and endangers people of color in your district and in this country.

What followed was Latimer responding in exactly the way Becky predicted he would: by listing off his Black supporters; by aggressively and combatively addressing her concerns; and to boot, by painting himself as the victim of anti-white racism.

“I think the caller has a point of view shared by some people, but I don’t think it’s shared universally,” Latimer said. “I have the support of some members of the Black clergy who understand who I am as a person. They don’t judge me by a tweet. They don’t judge me by some predetermined notion that because I am white, I can’t possibly represent somebody who is not white. You can only be in one demographic, and if the philosophy of where we are heading is you cannot be in office unless you have my identity, then we’re in a bad place.”

When Lehrer pointed out that Becky didn’t say that, Latimer doubled down.

“I think realistically we are only the demographic we are,” he said. “And then in theory, you only vote for the person who looks exactly like you. That might get you Clarence Thomas,”  referring to the ultra-conservative Black Supreme Court Justice who was not elected by voters but appointed by the first Bush president. 

It was at this point I audibly gasped at the subtext of what Latimer was saying—that a Black woman voter is so concerned with race that she wouldn’t be able to distinguish between candidates, even if the Black candidate stood against all her values. The assertion was unabashedly racist. 

When Lehrer (after interruptions from Latimer) read the full Emmett Till comparison out loud, Latimer went on defense again: “It was a wrong analogy, and I retracted it. I’ve apologized for it. It does not reflect that way I view people, but it’s being used as a tool to help the incumbent try and win another term in Congress. So I recognize that is what politics is, but I think I’ve explained it thoroughly, I’ve apologized for it, and I don’t know what more I can do. The caller is obviously unhappy with me. I cannot make her happy with me.”

So often, Black candidates are portrayed as angry. Latimer in this same interview called Bowman, who was first elected to Congress in 2020, “loud” and “bombastic” and even referenced the volume of his speaking voice. Yet I couldn’t help but notice was how angry Latimer—the seemingly milquetoast, establishment, white candidate—seemed throughout the conversation. His disdain for being grilled on Israel was palpable, despite the fact that AIPAC has spent more money on his race than any other in the country. He continued to defend receiving massive donations from Trump-supporting Republicans whose only interest in the race is ousting the Black incumbent who’s critical of Israel. And he really didn’t like being questioned by a Black voter.

His defensiveness doesn’t bode well for someone who, if elected to congress, will be faced with a constant string of constituent concerns—including those like Becky who didn’t support him in the primary.

When I reached out to Bowman’s campaign for a comment, a spokesperson shared this quote from the Congressman himself:

“George Latimer’s comment comparing the lynching that killed 14-year old Emmett Till to the calls New Yorkers made for Andrew Cuomo to resign is beyond disgusting. That he even thought in the first place to compare New Yorkers’ calls for accountability from their governor to the torture and murder of a Black child is deeply concerning, let alone his continued inability to apologize for his cruel and deeply disturbing comment. New Yorkers deserve better than this hateful rhetoric.”

I asked the Latimer campaign for a response to Bowman’s statement but have yet to hear back.

As I wrapped up writing this piece, a big new Latimer endorsement dropped:

I guess we know Hillary has a friend on the Latimer campaign. Or at the very least, she’s not a Brian Lehrer listener.

Tips? Email [email protected] or message me on Signal at Marisakabas.04

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