The man sitting across from Gavin Newsom on Sunday night at the Rialto Center for the Arts in Atlanta has a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech. A Master of Public Administration from Georgia State University. An honorary doctorate from the Interdenominational Theological Center. He was the first in his family to attend college, the first Black alumnus elected mayor of Atlanta, and was named Georgian of the Year in 2025.
That man — Mayor Andre Dickens — was the one asking the questions when Newsom leaned forward and said, “I’m not trying to impress you. I’m just trying to impress upon you, I’m like you. I’m no better than you. I’m a 960 SAT guy.”
The clip has now been viewed over 54 million times. It launched a 48-hour firestorm over whether Newsom was being racist, tone-deaf, or simply misunderstood. But before any of that, there’s a simpler question nobody seems to be asking: Who was he talking to?
Gov. Newsom to a black crowd in GA: “I am like you. I’m a 960 SAT guy. I can’t read.” pic.twitter.com/4Gk0WKbIYz
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) February 23, 2026
The clip vs. the footage
The 38-second video was posted Sunday night by the conservative account End Wokeness with the caption: “Gov. Newsom to a black crowd in GA.” That framing — “black crowd” — set the entire narrative. My original piece on this described the audience as “predominantly Black.” That followed the framing circulating at the time. It now appears to have been wrong.
Multiple videos have since surfaced showing a crowd that was diverse — and possibly majority white. Marc Lamont Hill posted footage of the lobby and the audience, sarcastically asking where all the Black Americans were hiding. Conservative commentator Erick Erickson called it “Buttigieg levels of whiteness.” Even Christopher Rufo questioned whether the condescension charge held up if the crowd wasn’t predominantly Black.
Mayor Dickens posted audience photos on Instagram showing a mixed crowd. “Take it from someone who was actually in the chair asking the questions: context matters more than a headline,” he wrote. “This is Atlanta. We don’t need anyone to tell us when to be offended. And history has shown… when we are, you’ll know.”
The full context
The viral clip starts mid-thought. In the longer video, Dickens asks Newsom about the “duality” of his upbringing — a working-class mother who rented out rooms to make ends meet, and a father with deep ties to the Getty family fortune. Newsom talked about performing a version of himself early in his career, then wanting to drop the act. That’s when he brought up the 960 SAT and the dyslexia. He never mentioned race.
So who was the ‘you’?
If Newsom was talking to Dickens — the man three feet away, the man asking the questions — then “I’m like you” is a strange thing to say to someone with a chemical engineering degree from one of the top programs in the country. Someone who worked at BP-Amoco, became the youngest and first Black salesman of the year at a global engineering firm, co-founded a multi-million dollar business, and spearheaded a Georgia Tech initiative that raised graduation rates among Black male students. Telling that person you’re just like him because you scored a 960 on the SAT doesn’t land as vulnerability. It doesn’t land at all.
NEWSOM RIPPED OVER TOUTING LOW SAT SCORE TO SEEM RELATABLE@AllenWest: “That’s kind of condescending and… offensive in a place like Atlanta, Georgia… But to try to play this soft bigotry of low expectations, this is what you expect from the other side.” pic.twitter.com/fqmCfiXOo7
— The Will Cain Show (@WillCainShow) February 24, 2026
If Newsom was talking to the room — a room that paid $45 to $100 per ticket, during a book tour that doubled as a thinly veiled 2028 presidential campaign — then the racial framing that drove 54 million views was built on a misread. He wasn’t telling Black people he’s like them. He was telling a diverse crowd of book-event attendees that he’s a regular guy. Whether that’s convincing from a man with a $30 million net worth is a separate question. But it’s a different question.
And if the “you” was neither Dickens specifically nor the crowd literally, but some imagined American everypeople Newsom was performing vulnerability for — then Cornel West’s critique still cuts deepest.
What context doesn’t fix
West, in a post sharing his breakdown of the clip with Tavis Smiley on KBLA Talk 1580, argued that Newsom could have taken a humanistic approach — connected over being born of a woman, facing loss and pain and death like anyone else. Instead, West said, when Newsom thinks of Black people, he reaches for low SAT scores.
Brother Newsom could’ve taken a humanistic approach! He could’ve said, “I’m just like you. I was born of a woman. I’ll face loss, pain, and death just like anyone else.” But instead, when he thinks of Black people, he brings up low SAT scores. That mindset sits at the core of… pic.twitter.com/cwRH6wEyKY
— Cornel West (@CornelWest) February 24, 2026
Newsom may not have mentioned race. The crowd may not have been predominantly Black. But he was still in Atlanta — a city whose Black political infrastructure and cultural identity are central to its national significance. He endorsed former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor that same day. And when he reached for something to prove he was relatable, he reached for a low SAT score and the inability to read — sitting across from a man who has three degrees and built a career in chemical engineering.
His 960, by the way, is still 53 points above the average score for Black test-takers.
The question 54 million people are answering for themselves
The clip was stripped of context. The crowd wasn’t what it was reported to be. Newsom was answering a question about his upbringing and his dyslexia. He never said the word “race.”
But 54 million people watched it and drew their own conclusions. That’s not because End Wokeness captioned it a certain way. It’s because something in the clip felt familiar enough to not need the caption at all.