It didn’t take long to recognize that Owens and I were operating from vastly different pools of information.
Owens said she doesn’t believe Trump is racist. When I asked about his record on the Central Park Five rape case (Trump
called for the death penalty in New York in response to the arrests of five black and Hispanic teenagers), she interrupted: “They were guilty. They were actually found guilty.”
“Weren’t they exonerated?” I asked her, as if I didn’t know the answer. The five were
indeed cleared in 2002, after another man confessed — a claim supported by the DNA.
“No, no,” Candace responded firmly.
“Yes, I believe they were. There was evidence,” I retorted.
She then backed up. “Were they? Can someone fact-check that?” she said, turning to her fiancé and manager. “Was the Central Park Five exonerated?”
At the core of Owens’s platform is her argument that the Democratic Party has done nothing but brainwash the black community and exploit black people for their votes. Democrats encourage a victim mentality. Democrats think black people are stupid. She simply wants us to recognize that we don’t have to be Democrats.
