While trying to pander in Atlanta, Gavin Newsom became the poster child for the soft bigotry of low expectations.
his week, while in Atlanta, Georgia, to promote his new memoir, California Governor Gavin Newsom told a room full of people that his low SAT scores made him just like them. There is a dispute about the racial makeup of the crowd, but sitting on stage next to Newsom was the Mayor of Atlanta, Andre Dickens, who is black. If anything, the optics of that moment were bad for no other reason than that Newsom appeared to be saying that his poor test scores, combined with his inability to read, put him on the level of the black man sharing the stage with him.
That is the uncharitable way to read the interaction, but Newsom brought it upon himself. In his attempt to play the everyman, he insulted the black community. Famed academic Cornel West said of the incident, “That mindset sits at the core of white supremacy — the belief that Black people are less beautiful, less moral, less intelligent! Don’t play with us like that.” Likewise, many Republicans seized on the moment to pile on and accuse Newsom of racism.
Is Gavin Newsom racist? The answer to that question is complicated. While we cannot know his mind, it is difficult to imagine that he holds racial hatred in his heart. However, by treating the black community as a monolith, he has allowed himself to harbor racial prejudice. When any group is treated as a collective rather than as individuals, one is forced to rely heavily on stereotypes, as Newsom appeared to do in this interview.
If we imagined a Republican politician making a similar gaffe, that politician would be ceaselessly lambasted. Democratic politicians and the more partisan members of the media who have attempted to spin the interaction would be the same people calling for resignations and apologies. This blatant hypocrisy is almost undeniable.
If this moment on stage was not a display of some previously hidden racial animus inside Newsom, what was it? Well, there is a disturbing trend among many Democrats, something called “the soft bigotry of low expectations.” This phrase has been used for the past twenty years to cover a variety of issues, but the meaning remains the same. Democrats, while seeking to help or care for the black community, often infantilize them, or in more insidious cases, see them as lesser.
This form of racism comes from the opposite end of the spectrum than society is used to, but it is just as bigoted. It’s no longer the old Democrat notion that blacks are genetically inferior, an idea behind the KKK and Jim Crow.
The new Democrat bigotry comes from a misplaced sense of empathy. In recent years, it has been termed the “white savior complex.” Charity is a good and noble cause, but the patronizing way that people approach the black community is off-putting to the very people they proclaim to be representing.
The most obvious example of this form of bigotry comes in the way of voter ID. According to polling data, up to 76% of black Americans support showing an ID to vote.
However, if you listen to Democrat politicians, voter ID is nothing but a modern form of Jim Crow. There are activists, well-meaning in nature, who make the argument that it is more difficult for a member of the black community to obtain ID. These arguments always fall flat, partly because the notion that the black community is incapable of overcoming the barriers of obtaining an ID is insulting, but mostly because the black community itself favors the idea.
Affirmative action is another area where good intentions brush up against prejudicial thinking. In the 1960s, there may have been a good argument for the necessity of affirmative action. Many places in the United States still held deeply racist views, and discrimination was rampant. By providing black Americans with a head start, America helped speed the end of institutional racism.
The arguments today for affirmative action, however, are tinged with nothing but low expectations. For example, lowering test score requirements at institutions of higher education, as Harvard does, to admit more black students, is not a practice that should be supported—especially when thinkers like Thomas Sowell have correctly pointed out that these programs actually wind up harming the black community. Call it naïve, but the belief that black excellence can stand on its own merits seems less racist than lowering standards to achieve an arbitrary quota.
The notion of merit, though, is antithetical to the modern Democrat party. Many politicians, including Governor Newsom, still treat the black community as if it needs endless coddling. Democrats code-switch and pander whenever they are put in front of black audiences. It is demeaning and should be cause for nothing but embarrassment. The black community does not need pandering; they need dignity and equality, and maybe an apology from Governor Newsom.
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/03/gavin_newsom_s_gaffe.html
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