- Mar 11, 2015
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***The author has given permission for use of text below.
When Candace Owens was born, I was 28 years old. I didn’t watch old videos of Dr. King; I saw things live and as shown on TV. I watched my father cry while King's funeral was aired on national TV. I did not read about the 1960s civil rights movement. I watched my parents and other older blacks fighting for a future many of them KNEW they would not see. Deacon Alfred Montgomery was an 87-year-old man when he told me in 1970 that there would be a black president one day. Deacon Montgomery died in 1976. He never saw Barack Obama. Deacon Montgomery never saw the day Colin Powell would make it to head the joint chiefs, much less Secretary of State. These are our ancestors. They always have looked to the future.
I was three years old when the Civil Rights Act was signed. I have seen the backlash by whites and how it has modified over time. When the act passed, some whites refused to follow the law. School segregation was supposed to have ended in 1954, but it did not. People like Owens have fallen for a racist depiction of black people. Adopting the right-wing opinion of the victim limits the greatness from which we came.
So to Owens, I say this: “When you believe that supporting a political view created to exclude us is thinking independently, it is time to think about your mental condition.I got news for you kiddo, BLACKS WERE REPUBLICANS FOR 100 YEARS! We left the party because the party never wanted us. You’re going backward and trying to take others with you.”
Right-wing blacks like Owens only help foster division. The only reason the whites they associate with accept them is because each of them validates what the racist subculture has chosen to believe about blacks. These are not independent thinkers. A person of color cannot be thinking independently if what they believe reinforces white racist stereotypes of people who look like them. Blacks who think independently do not believe or repeat what racist whites think of us and challenge that belief. Today, white extremists on the right have tried to insert blacks into our national discourse who believe only a certain way. Candace Owens is one of then.
When Candace Owens was born, I was 28 years old. I didn’t watch old videos of Dr. King; I saw things live and as shown on TV. I watched my father cry while King's funeral was aired on national TV. I did not read about the 1960s civil rights movement. I watched my parents and other older blacks fighting for a future many of them KNEW they would not see. Deacon Alfred Montgomery was an 87-year-old man when he told me in 1970 that there would be a black president one day. Deacon Montgomery died in 1976. He never saw Barack Obama. Deacon Montgomery never saw the day Colin Powell would make it to head the joint chiefs, much less Secretary of State. These are our ancestors. They always have looked to the future.
I was three years old when the Civil Rights Act was signed. I have seen the backlash by whites and how it has modified over time. When the act passed, some whites refused to follow the law. School segregation was supposed to have ended in 1954, but it did not. People like Owens have fallen for a racist depiction of black people. Adopting the right-wing opinion of the victim limits the greatness from which we came.
So to Owens, I say this: “When you believe that supporting a political view created to exclude us is thinking independently, it is time to think about your mental condition.I got news for you kiddo, BLACKS WERE REPUBLICANS FOR 100 YEARS! We left the party because the party never wanted us. You’re going backward and trying to take others with you.”
Right-wing blacks like Owens only help foster division. The only reason the whites they associate with accept them is because each of them validates what the racist subculture has chosen to believe about blacks. These are not independent thinkers. A person of color cannot be thinking independently if what they believe reinforces white racist stereotypes of people who look like them. Blacks who think independently do not believe or repeat what racist whites think of us and challenge that belief. Today, white extremists on the right have tried to insert blacks into our national discourse who believe only a certain way. Candace Owens is one of then.
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