By Joe W. Bowers Jr. | California Black Media
A question recently emailed to the office of Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood) was not about legislation, policy, or governance.
Instead, it asked whether the “Louis Vuitton bag McKinnor was wearing last night “real or fake?”
This wasn’t just a casual inquiry. Stella Yu, the CalMatters reporter who asked the question, told McKinnor’s chief of staff, Terry Schanz, that it came from an editor. That detail matters because it shows the question was a deliberate editorial decision.
The question arose after McKinnor attended the California Tribal Business Alliance’s 21st Annual Back to Session Bash, a Capitol event held every January as lawmakers return from recess. Funded by lobbying interests — including tribal gaming groups, tobacco and slot-machine companies, and trade unions — the event is designed to foster relationships between lawmakers and stakeholders.
If journalists want to examine lobbying culture, there’s a real story to pursue. But the question sent to McKinnor’s office wasn’t about influence or access.
California Black Media (CBM) asked CalMatters to explain the editorial reasoning behind the question — how it served the public interest and how it aligned with responsible journalism, especially given the racial and gendered history of questioning Black women’s legitimacy and status.
CalMatters CEO Neil Chase told CBM he would talk with his team.
Later, he said editors had discussed the matter with McKinnor’s staff, that he had reached out to McKinnor personally, and that the newsroom was reviewing whether the inquiry aligned with its standards and avoided bias.
While Chase acknowledged concerns, he did not explain why the question was asked in the first place.
McKinnor made the inquiry public. On social media, she posted:
“While Rome burns and American democracy is hanging on by a thread, I have to deal with racist bulls**t like this from CalMatters.org.”
Her post quickly spread through political and media circles, shared through texts, group chats, and social feeds. The reactions were not about fashion. They were about relevance, bias, and journalistic judgment.
Many who responded to the post questioned why a political newsroom would focus on a woman’s handbag instead of her legislative work.
A number of commenters questioned whether male legislators are ever questioned about their watches, shoes, or suits. Commenters described the inquiry as “unprofessional,” “ridiculous,” and “disgusting,” and said the question implied McKinnor either could not afford nice things or should not have them.
“When a Black woman in elected office wears something nice, the first instinct is to question if it’s real. That reflex says everything. Women of color are constantly boxed into this narrative of scarcity, like success is supposed to look modest, apologetic, or invisible,” wrote Astine Suleimanyan, a commenter on McKinnor’s post.
“It’s about respect. It’s about who society believes is allowed to prosper and who isn’t,” she continued. “You don’t owe anyone an explanation for your success. The worst part is that it’s women beating other women down.”
Others focused on newsroom accountability, asking why an editor would direct such a question and what story could possibly justify it.
Schanz confirmed to CBM that Chase did reach out. He said CalMatters’ political editor, Juliet Williams, contacted him after McKinnor’s post, and that Chase later emailed requesting a meeting with McKinnor.
Schanz said McKinnor had not responded yet because the inquiry came over MLK weekend, while she was attending community events honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He said she planned to assess whether to respond after returning to the office.
“She’s not going to let this nonsense take away her joy from celebrating Dr. King,” Schanz said. “The priority this weekend was being with her community.”
Schanz said he told CalMatters’ editor directly that asking whether a Black woman’s accessory is “real or fake” is racist because it draws on stereotypes that Black women do not belong, are pretending, or are undeserving. He said the editor told him she did not know McKinnor was Black — a claim Schanz said was not credible given McKinnor’s public profile and the small number of Black women ever elected to the California Legislature.
To examine what ethical journalism demands in moments like this, CBM consulted Martin G. Reynolds, co-executive director of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
“Unless a question like this is clearly tied to a public-interest purpose—such as misuse of public funds or an ethics investigation — it isn’t neutral,” Reynolds said. “When directed at a Black woman, it also intersects with racialized and gendered tropes around appearance, suspicion, and legitimacy.”
Reynolds added that journalism must also examine how race, gender, class, and history shape who gets questioned and how — and whether the same question would be asked of someone in the same role with a different background.
That brings the focus back to CalMatters. While Chase has said the newsroom is reviewing the matter internally, he has not clarified whether the question met their editorial standards.
Key questions remain unanswered: What story was this question supposed to support? What would the answer have proved? Why focus on appearance instead of political substance? And why was McKinnor singled out?
These are not rhetorical questions. They go to the heart of how journalism defines “public interest.” When scrutiny falls on appearance instead of power, something has gone wrong.
This isn’t about attacking a reporter. It is about challenging editorial judgment.
Newsrooms decide who is questioned, how, and about what. Those decisions shape public perception — and they are never neutral.
CBM considers it important to challenge these decisions as part of its mission to hold power accountable — including media power. When political reporting centers on whether a Black woman’s purse is “real,” the public deserves to know who made that call and why.
CalMatters has said it is reviewing the matter internally. But as Reynolds pointed out, real accountability requires journalism to question itself as rigorously as it questions others — and that means being transparent with the public about the story it believed it was telling, and why it chose to tell it that way.