Editorial: LaLota’s inadequate response
By now you’ve likely heard about President Trump’s social media post depicting former president Barack Obama and former first Lady Michelle Obama as apes. The post, which remained up for 12 hours during Black History Month, drew condemnation across the political spectrum.
What matters most to Riverhead readers is not just what a president posts from Washington — it’s how our own congressman responds.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), who represents our communities, called the president’s post “sloppy” on X and accepted his explanation that a “staffer” was responsible. “The president has made tremendous inroads in the Black community, and I can’t imagine that sharing a one-minute video the last second of which was unrelated and pretty racist wasn’t sloppy screen recording by staff,” Mr. LaLota wrote. “Deleting the post would help right this wrong.”
No, congressman, it won’t. An apology might help better. Clear condemnation would help more.
Compare Rep. LaLota’s response to that of his Long Island Republican colleague, Rep. Andrew Garbarino of Bayport, who had no problem speaking plainly: “The President of the United States should not be posting imagery that depicts former President Barack Obama — or anyone — as monkeys. I condemn this completely,” he told Newsday.
That’s the standard. Clear. Unequivocal. Moral.
Rep. LaLota’s constituents deserve a representative willing to call racism what it is, even when it comes from his own party’s leader. Calling racist imagery “sloppy” and “unrelated” doesn’t cut it. Neither does blaming a staffer who hasn’t been fired while the president tells the Associated Press he won’t apologize and “didn’t make a mistake.”
This isn’t about partisan politics — Rep. Garbarino proves Republicans can speak clearly on this issue. It’s about whether our representative will show moral courage when it matters.
In December 2015, President Obama spoke on the anniversary of the 13th Amendment’s passage, which abolished slavery. His words remain relevant: “We betray our most noble past if we were to deny the possibility of movement, the possibility of progress; if we were to let cynicism consume us and fear overwhelm us. If we lost hope. For however slow, however incomplete, however harshly, loudly, rudely challenged at each point along our journey, in America, we can create the change that we seek. All it requires is that our generation be willing to do what those who came before us have done: To rise above the cynicism and rise above the fear, to hold fast to our values, to see ourselves in each other, to cherish dignity and opportunity not just for our own children but for somebody else’s child. To remember that our freedom is bound up with the freedom of others — regardless of what they look like or where they come from or what their last name is or what faith they practice.”
Our congressman should remember those words.
