Mike Lawler’s Disturbing Pattern of Racism

Mike Lawler is facing intense scrutiny after a damning report from the New York Times exposed the vulnerable New York Republican for wearing "blackface as part of a Halloween costume" - then offensively defending the blackface as "the sincerest form of flattery."

Late last week, Politico also revealed that Lawler twice refused to condemn racist slurs and language at events and interviews in just the last month - underscoring that he's repeatedly allowed dangerous and hateful rhetoric to go unchecked.

The Spring Valley, Nyack, and Mid-Hudson/Westchester branches of the NAACP condemned Lawler's use of blackface and pattern of racial insensitivity.

DCCC Red to Blue candidate Mondaire Jones spoke with Al Sharpton on MSNBC to discuss Lawler's disturbing and offensive pattern of racism and how it's impacting the people of New York's Seventeenth Congressional District.

DCCC Spokesperson Ellie Dougherty:
"Mike Lawler's blatant racism is not only disturbing but underscores that his behavior is indicative of a gross pattern. New York's Seventeenth Congressional District deserves better."

Read more below.

The New York Times: Photos Show New York Congressman in Blackface as Michael Jackson
Nicholas Fandos | October 7, 2024

KEY POINTS:

• Representative Mike Lawler of New York wore blackface as part of a Halloween costume when he was a college student almost two decades ago, according to photographs recently obtained by The New York Times.

• The images, taken around October 2006, show a 20-year-old Mr. Lawler at a campus social gathering dressed as Michael Jackson. He is wearing a black shirt and a red jacket and, in one photo, is striking a signature Jackson dance pose. His face has also been visibly darkened.

• Mr. Lawler, 38, did not dispute the photos' authenticity.

• The roots of blackface in the United States trace back to minstrel shows in the 1830s, when it quickly became a potent symbol of anti-Black racism. But the practice of white people darkening their faces - either using burned cork, shoe polish or makeup - has persisted for centuries onstage, onscreen and on college campuses.

• Mr. Lawler's case took place in New York City nearly two decades after Mr. Northam's, when he was a sophomore at Manhattan College, a small Catholic college in the Bronx where only 3 percent of students were Black. (The school is now known as Manhattan University.)

• In both pictures, Mr. Lawler's skin is visibly darkened. A person familiar with the costume, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, recalled that Mr. Lawler had used bronzer that he borrowed from female classmates. The congressman gave the same account.

Politico: Mike Lawler is under fire for using blackface. He recently declined to condemn racist rhetoric, twice.
Emily Ngo | October 8, 2024

KEY POINTS:

• Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) at least twice in the past month has missed or sidestepped opportunities to condemn racist language in public settings, POLITICO has learned on the heels of a New York Times report that he wore blackface in college.

• Three weeks ago, at a forum on combating antisemitism held north of New York City, Lawler spoke almost immediately after a participant used a racial slur for Black people, but he did not address the man's use of the epithet, according to audio reviewed by POLITICO.

• Last week, the freshman Republican pivoted to a different topic when far-right talk radio host Sid Rosenberg told him in an interview that Islamophobia and white supremacy do not exist, but Black supremacy does.

• While neither episode is an example of Lawler himself using racist rhetoric, each may shed light on how he reacts in environments where such language or sentiment may go unchallenged.

• Lawler was part of the Sept. 13 roundtable in Chappaqua where a participant sought to make the case that antisemitism goes unchecked on college campuses. The man said, "if a bunch of white boys wanted to start a Klan membership at Columbia University, set up chants and started chanting, 'Lynch the n--s'" that such activity would not be allowed for longer than 30 seconds.

• After a female participant appeared to agree, Lawler responded, not by directly addressing the racist comment, but by offering a general recollection of a visit he made to Columbia, which was home to pro-Palestinian encampments.

• Lawler was a guest more recently on the talk radio show, "Sid & Friends in the Morning," when the host argued, "It's kind of like Islamophobia, it's nice to say, but it does not exist. They want to kill Jews, not Muslims. It's kind of like white supremacy, it doesn't exist. Blacks, yes, but not white supremacy."

• The member of Congress chose not to engage or call Rosenberg out. Instead, he focused on the topic at hand, which was his bill to grant presidential candidates the same Secret Service protection as presidents in office.

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