The cast of CBS Mornings invited controversial author Wesley Lowery onto their show on Tuesday to promote his new book, American Whitelash. The book tries to portray Americans as pushing back against racial progress and progressivism, but instead of welcoming civil discourse, Lowery and his interviewers only generated further tension and division.
Gayle King, one of the co-hosts of the nationwide morning news program, stated that although “many people believe … there is some anti-black bias” Lowery’s research suggested that “white people felt that, that they had been, that they were discriminated against, too” as well.
Lowery used this moment to launch into a criticism of the two leading GOP presidential candidates, saying “it helps explain why politicians use things like the appeal yesterday by Ron DeSantis to ban birthright citizenship.”
Rather than attempt to highlight the importance of civil argument and discourse, Lowery implied that those who oppose Obama, high-crime levels, and gender ideology must be in support of “actual violence” against “Jewish people, Muslims, black people, and immigrants.” He even went on to suggest that those who wish to discuss the topics of crime and gender are contributing to “violence”.
In response, Vladimir Duthiers brought up two Republican office holders to suggest reparative race relations, saying “we’ve had a black president, because we having a black Republican running for the presidency.” Far from being an example of progress and acceptance, Lowery suggested that even if both parties elected black people, it wouldn’t make much of a difference due to racism against minorities in America being a “social construct”.
The conversation hit a further sour note when Gayle King asked Lowery “so we break this cycle how, Wesley?” His cavalier response indicated a lack of seriousness, saying “if I really knew the answer, I wouldn’t be here. I’d be making millions of dollars and fixing society, right?”
As the conversation went on, Duthiers continued to point fingers at the media, claiming “our journalistic institutions” needed to be “bolder and clearer” in denouncing controversial thoughts and figures. However, it is clear that he and others who participated in the CBS show were equally as guilty of causing racial tension as those in the media whom they sought to criticize.
In a statement, a CBS spokesperson said: “Today’s conversation was not intended to incite further division, but to raise awareness and begin a conversation about the uncomfortable truths and realities of the progress of race in America. We regret that it was taken in the wrong direction.” The statement falls woefully short of accepting any responsibility, and it fails to condemn the disrespectful tone taken by both Lowery and his interviewers.
Ultimately, the CBS crew and its guest Wesley Lowery failed to have a mature discussion about the real issues of racial progress in America and ended up promoting further tension and division.
Rather than address difficult questions and come up with sensitive solutions, they instead decided to use their platform to promote their own agendas and furthered existing animosity. It remains to be seen if the media will be allowed to continue such irresponsible journalism.