On Race, Mike Johnson Says His Views Were Shaped by Raising a Black Child [View all]

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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/27/us/politics/mike-johnson-house-speaker-son.html

On Race, Mike Johnson Says His Views Were Shaped by Raising a Black Child
The new House speaker has kept his oldest son out of the public eye — except when the Republican talks about race.


When Mike Johnson, the new House speaker, talks about race in America, he often draws a striking personal connection, telling the story of how he and his wife, Kelly, “took custody” of a Black teenager 24 years ago and raised him as a son.

“I have walked with him through discrimination that he has had to endure over the years and the hurdles he sometimes faced,” he told a House committee in 2019, while testifying against reparations for slavery. “I know all this because I was with him.”

When Mr. Johnson was named House speaker this week, his relationship with his son, like much of Mr. Johnson’s personal and political life, faced new scrutiny. There is no mention of the man, who is now an adult, raising his own family in California, in Mr. Johnson’s official biography. And he does not appear in the family photos posted on the congressman’s website. Mr. Johnson has four biological children: two daughters and two sons.

On Friday, Mr. Johnson sought to explain the absence, saying it was in deference to his son Michael’s request for privacy.

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At the time, Mr. Johnson noted that his oldest biological son, Jack, was now the same age as Michael was when he came into the house. “And I’ve thought often through all these ordeals over the last couple of weeks about the difference in the experiences between my two 14-year-old sons,” he said in the PBS interview. “Michael being a Black American and Jack being white Caucasian. They have different challenges. My son Jack has an easier path. He just does.”

When he was nominated for House speaker this month, Mr. Johnson — a hard-line conservative whose election to the new post has been applauded by the conservative movement — earned for those remarks rare criticism from the right, which viewed them as an acknowledgment of systemic racism.