Wesley Lowery is a lot of things: a former Washington Post reporter, 60 Minutes correspondent, CNN contributor, author, Pulitzer Prize winner, “Mr. BLM,” and now, an alleged sexual harasser and assaulter.
On Wednesday, the Columbia Journalism Review published a detailed account that cited multiple women, including some who went on the record, detailing how they were victimized by “Mr. BLM.”
Betsy Morais writes, “Among young reporters, he is perhaps best known for questioning traditional journalistic objectivity, noting its failures to reckon with racism. But for some women in journalism, his standing is more complicated.”
In addition to that crusade against journalistic objectivity, he has cast the American founding as a “racialized caste system” and claimed that opposition to the Obama administration was part of a “whitelash.” Meanwhile, the media held him up as a man who had profoundly important things to say about race when he was actually just a far-left, mudslinging activist.
Morais reports that the stories of everyone she talked to involved in-person meetings and alcohol, and “in each case, these women wound up leaving with Lowery, who they said then sexually assaulted them.”
She goes on to recall, “[Barber Wire editor-in-chief Olivia] Messer recalled that she tried to educate Lowery about consent. On another occasion, she said, she woke up unsure of what had happened, and he told her that he remembered they’d had sex. The woman from Bumble also blacked out; [Wall Street Journal reporter Imani] Moise felt powerless to stop him. The fourth—the writer-researcher—remained conscious; she felt pressure from Lowery to let him up to her apartment, where he tried to pull off her clothes, she said, until she pretended to fall asleep, and eventually, he left.”
Messer added:
I know from our decade of friendship that when he interacts with women, he pushes sexuality and romance into the conversation, even when they make it clear that they aren’t interested in more than friendship. Even when they put up a boundary. Even when they say no. His perspective may truly be that every woman in his life has a romantic or sexual interest in him, but that doesn’t make it true. His inability to see the damage he’s caused—much less change his behavior—makes me gravely concerned for all young women around him.”
As for Lowery, Morais detailed his response, which was not great:
‘I have far more at stake and to lose than any other source in this piece,’ he told me in an email. He declined to speak with me, and instead sent a statement. ‘CJR’s portrayal of these periods in my personal life is incomplete and includes false insinuations about complicated dynamics,’ he said. ‘Still, I respect the women who have shared their experiences and take their perspectives seriously. As a young professional, I did not always recognize the power imbalances that surfaced as personal relationships evolved into professional ones, and vice versa. I should have better upheld boundaries that would have protected myself and others, particularly during interactions impaired by mutual intoxication. I have committed to sobriety, now approaching one year, and continue to work with professionals on my understanding of the power dynamics that accompany race, gender, and my professional success.’
The report comes amid Washington Post reports that he left his professorship at American University following a “series of encounters detailed to American’s Title IX office concerning sexual harassment and other misconduct.”
Later, Morais gave details of Moise’s allegations:
‘He said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll pay for your cab,’ she recalled. He made a point, she said, of ordering an Uber Black. ‘He puts me in the car. At this point I was sloppy drunk. Then he gets in. I was pretty drunk, but I was perceptive enough to know what was happening. I said, ‘Where are we going?’ He said, ‘My apartment.’ Moise suddenly had the sense that she had lost control of the situation. ‘I felt really powerless,’ she remembered. That night, what she experienced ‘was a full-blown assault,’ she said. ‘I was way too drunk to give consent.’
The Bumble match recalled how “after that third drink, I do not remember anything until I woke up in his bed in his house and we were having sex. I mean, I can’t say we were having sex, because I was unconscious. He was inside of me.”
Even before the sexual misconduct allegations, it was hard to see Lowery as a positive influence on American politics. He saw racism in everything and therefore immediately assumed the worst in people. Now it has been reported that he used his ill-gotten fame to prey on women who looked up to him. With any justice, that will be the end of his career.
