Candace Owens
Wikipedia:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candace_Owens
Candace Owens (born April 29, 1989)
[1] is an American conservative
[2][3][4]commentator and political activist. She is known for her pro-
Trump stance and her criticism of
Black Lives Matter and of the
Democratic Party.
[5][6][7] She is the Director of Communications at the conservative advocacy group
Turning Point USA.
Candace Owens
Owens in 2018
Born April 29, 1989(age 29)
Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.
Residence New York City,
New York, U.S.
Occupation Public speaker, blogger
Employer Turning Point USA
Early life and education
She is
African-American and grew up in
Stamford, Connecticut,
[2] Owens is a graduate of
Stamford High School.
[8]She was raised by her grandparents after her parents divorced.
[2]
In 2007, while a senior in high school, Owens received threatening racist phone calls that were traced to a car in which the 14-year-old son of then mayor
Dannel Malloy was present. Owens' family sued the Stamford Board of Education in federal court alleging that the city did not protect her rights, resulting in a $37,500 settlement.
[8][9]
Owens was pursuing an undergraduate degree in journalism at the
University of Rhode Island but left school after her junior year.
[2] Afterwards, she worked for
Vogue magazine.
[8] In 2012, she took a job as an administrative assistant for a private equity firm.
[8]
Career
Privacy violation, Gamergate and political transformation
Owens launched SocialAutopsy.com in 2016, a website she said would expose
bullies on the Internet by tracking their digital footprint.
[2][8][10] The proposed site would have solicited users to take screenshots of offensive posts and send them to the website, where they would be categorized by the user's name.
[8] She used
crowdfunding on
Kickstarter for the website. The proposal was immediately controversial, drawing criticism that she was de-anonymizing (
doxing) Internet users and violating their privacy.
[2][11] According to
The Daily Dot, "People from all sides of the anti-harassment debate were quick to criticize the database, calling it a public-shaming list that would encourage
doxing and retaliatory harassment."
[12] Both conservatives and progressives involved in the
Gamergate controversy condemned the website.
[2]
In response, people began posting Owens' private details online.
[2] Owens blamed, without evidence, the doxing on progressives involved in the Gamergate controversy.
[2][11] After this, she earned the support of conservatives involved in the Gamergate controversy, including right-wing political commentators and Trump supporters
Milo Yiannopoulos and
Mike Cernovich.
[2] After this, Owens became a conservative, saying in 2017, "I became a conservative overnight ... I realized that liberals were actually the racists. Liberals were actually the trolls ... Social Autopsy is why I'm conservative".
[2]
Kickstarter suspended funding for Social Autopsy, and the website was never created.
[11]
Media and conservative activism
In 2015, Owens founded the website Degree180.
[5][2] The website frequently posted anti-conservative and anti-Trump content, including mockery of his penis size.
[5][13] In a 2015 column that Owens wrote for the site she criticized conservative Republicans, writing about the "bat-shit-crazy antics of the Republican Tea Party", adding, "The good news is, they will eventually die off (peacefully in their sleep, we hope), and then we can get right on with the OBVIOUS social change that needs to happen, IMMEDIATELY."
[2][10][14][15] When
BuzzFeed News in May 2018 reported on the anti-Trump content on Degree180, Owens described the
BuzzFeed reporter as a "despicable creature" and alleged that Buzzfeed had threatened the former writers of Degree180 (an allegation that Buzzfeed denied).
[5]
By 2017, Owens had become known in conservative circles for her pro-Trump commentary and for criticizing liberal rhetoric regarding structural racism, systemic inequality, and identity politics.
[5][6][7] In 2017, she began posting politically themed videos to YouTube.
[5] She launched Red Pill Black, a website and
YouTube channel that promotes
black conservatism in the United States.
[16][17]
On November 21, 2017, at the
MAGA Rally and Expo in
Rockford, Illinois,
Turning Point USA founder
Charlie Kirk announced her appointment as the organization's director of urban engagement.
[18] Turning Point's hiring of Owens occurred in the wake of allegations of racism at Turning Point.
[5]
In April 2018,
Kanye West tweeted "I love the way Candace Owens thinks."
[19] The tweet was met with derision among some of West's fans.
[20] In May 2018, President
Donald Trump stated that Owens "is having a big impact on politics in our country. She represents an ever expanding group of very smart 'thinkers,' and it is wonderful to watch and hear the dialogue going on...so good for our Country!"
[21]
Owens has appeared on fringe conspiracy websites, such as
InfoWars.
[2][10][6] In 2018, she was a guest host on
Fox News.
[2] After finding mainstream success, Owens distanced herself from the far-right conspiracy websites, although she refused to criticize them.
[2]
In May 2018, Owens suggested that "something bio-chemically happens" to women who do not marry or have children, and she linked to the Twitter handles of
Sarah Silverman,
Chelsea Handler and
Kathy Griffin, saying that they were "evidentiary support" of this theory.
[22][23] Silverman responded: "It seems to me that by tweeting this, you would like to maybe make us feel badly. I'd say this is evidenced by ur effort to use our twitter handles so we would see. My heart breaks for you, Candy. I hope you find happiness in whatever form that takes."
[22] Owens responded, accusing Silverman of supporting terrorists and crime gangs.
[22]
Political views
Ideology
Prior to 2015, Owens stated she had no interest in politics whatsoever. Prior to 2017, she identified as a liberal Democrat. In 2017, she began describing herself as a conservative Trump supporter.
[24][25][2] Owens has since characterized Trump as the "savior" of Western civilization.
[7] She has argued that Trump has neither engaged in rhetoric that is harmful to African Americans nor proposed policies that would harm African Americans.
[26][10] She stated in October 2018 that she had never voted and had only recently became a registered Republican.
[27]
The Guardian has described Owens as "ultra-conservative",
[26] and
New York magazine and the
Columbia Journalism Review have described her as "right-wing".
[28][29] The Daily Beast has called her views "far-right" and the
Pacific Standard called her a member of the "
alt-right",
[10][30] though she has rejected both terms.
[31][32] She was influenced by the works of
Ann Coulter,
Milo Yiannopoulos,
Ben Carson and
Thomas Sowell.
[33]
Owens has said: "The left hates America, and Trump loves it."
[34] She has said that the left is "destroying everything through this
cultural Marxist ideology."
[34]
Race relations
Owens is known for her criticism of
Black Lives Matter.
[7][35][36][37] She has described Black Lives Matter protesters as "a bunch of whiny toddlers, pretending to be oppressed for attention."
[38] Owens has argued that African Americans have a "victim mentality" and often refers to the Democratic Party as a "plantation".
[26][35] She has argued that the American left "like black people to be government-dependent".
[39]Owens has argued that black people have been brainwashed to vote for Democrats.
[6]She has argued that police violence against black people is not about racism.
[35][38]Owens has referred to police killings of black people as a trivial matter to African Americans.
[10][26][34] She has characterized abortion as a tool for "the extermination' of black babies."
[2]
She has said, "Black Americans are doing worse off economically today than we were doing in the 1950s under Jim Crow," adding that this is because "we've only been voting for one party since then."
[34] She has attributed economic improvements for African Americans to Trump's presidency, however fact-checkers have noted that economic outcomes improved for African Americans throughout President
Barack Obama's tenure.
[34] When asked if it was problematic that
white supremacist groups, such as the
Ku Klux Klan, support Trump, Owens answered that
Antifa was a bigger problem than the KKK.
[34] In 2018, Owens dismissed reports of a resurgence in hate crimes, saying "All of the violence this year primarily happened because of people on the left."
[34] An analysis by
The Washington Post showed that at least 20 people died in suspected right-wing attacks, whereas only one person died in suspected left-wing attacks.
[34]
After the 2017
Unite the Right rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia, Owens said that concern over rising white nationalism was “stupid”.
[2]
Abortion
Owens opposes abortion.
[33]
Climate change denial
Owens rejects the
scientific consensus on climate change.
[40][2] She has called climate change a lie used to "extract dollars from Americans."
[2]
Me Too movement
Owens described the
Me Too movement – which is an international movement against
sexual harassment and
assault – as "stupid" and said that she "hated" the movement.
[41][42] Owens wrote that it was premised on the idea that "women are stupid, weak & inconsequential."
[41][42] She has repeatedly criticized feminism.
[43]
J
Dispute with Mollie Tibbetts' family
In August 2018, Owens had a dispute with a cousin of
Mollie Tibbetts. Mollie was murdered, allegedly by Cristhian Bahena Rivera, an illegal immigrant working under a false name who was arrested and charged with Mollie's murder and who subsequently led investigators of the Poweshiek County Sheriff's Office to Mollie's body.
[44] Tibbetts' cousin criticized Owens saying she exploited Tibbetts' death and used Tibbetts' death as "political propaganda."
[45][46] Owens responded, describing the cousin's criticism as a "strange" attack on Trump supporters.
[47] After the dispute, a local chapter of Turning Point USA criticized Owens for "public harassment" towards a member of Tibbetts' family.
[47]
Promoting conspiracy theories about October 2018 bombing attempts
In October 2018, during the
bombing attempts targeting prominent Democrats, Owens promoted the conspiracy theory that the bomb mailings were sent by leftists.
[48] After authorities arrested a 56-year-old suspect who is a registered Republican and Trump supporter on October 26, Owens deleted her comments without explanation.
[49]
Blexit movement
In October 2018, Owens launched the Blexit movement, a campaign to encourage
African Americans to abandon the Democratic Party and register as Republicans. The term Blexit—a
portmanteau of “
black" and "exit”—mimics
Brexit, the word used to describe the United Kingdom's
withdrawal from the European Union. On the launch, Owens said that her "dear friend and fellow superhero
Kanye West" designed merchandise for the movement, but the following day, West denied being the designer and disavowed the effort, saying "I never wanted any association with Blexit" and "I've been used to spread messages I don't believe in."
[50][51][52] Shortly after the launch, The Daily Beast found that approximately 16 percent of the total tweets using the #blexit hashtag were from Twitter accounts associated with the promotion of Russian disinformation.
[53]
On October 31, 2018, Owens was sent a trademark infringement cease and desist letter by an attorney for Blexit, a Minneapolis-based non-profit founded in 2016 that is developing a black-led credit union.
[54][55][56]
In March 2019, Owens held a Blexit rally.
[57]
LGBT rights
Owens supports same-sex marriage.
[43] On July 28, 2017, Owens came out in favor banning transgender individuals who are undergoing sex reassignment surgery from serving in the United States military, but states she is fine with fully transitioned transgender individuals serving in the United States military.
[58]
Welfare
Owens opposes welfare, although says she has family on it.
[33]
Guns
Owens is a registered
National Rifle Association (NRA) member and stated that the NRA was founded as a civil rights organization that trained African Americans to arm themselves.
[24]
Comments about Hitler
Owens has said that it would have been "fine" that
Adolf Hitler "was a
national socialist" (Nazi) if he'd "just wanted to make Germany great," but hadn't wanted to expand his policies beyond Germany. At a
Turning Point USA event in December 2018, she explained:
Owens encountered heavy criticism by some for her comments. She later said on Twitter that Hitler was "a homicidal, psychotic maniac" and there is "no excuse or defense ever for ... everything that he did," saying that the point of her comments was to say that "Hitler wasn't a nationalist."
[60]
References
- ^ "Joe Rogan Experience #1125 – Candace Owens". PowerfulJRE. May 31, 2018. Event occurs at 1:43. Retrieved June 24, 2018. I just turned 29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "YouTube Tested, Trump Approved: How Candace Owens Suddenly Became the Loudest Voice on the Far Right". NBC News. June 23, 2018. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
- ^ McKay, Tom. "Jack Dorsey Apologizes to Far-Right Activist Candace Owens After a Twitter Moment Called Her Far-Right". Gizmodo. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
- ^ Zimmerman, Amy (May 9, 2018). "Meet Candace Owens, Kanye West's Toxic Far-Right Consigliere". Retrieved February 25, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g "The Newest Star of the Trump Movement Ran a Trump-Bashing Publication – Less Than Two Years Ago". BuzzFeed. May 15, 2018. Retrieved May 16,2018.
- ^ a b c d Ohlheiser, Abby (April 25, 2018). "Analysis | 'The Mob Can't Make Me Not Love Him': How Kanye West Joined the Pro-Trump Internet". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Kornhaber, Spencer (April 23, 2018). "What Kanye West and Shania Twain See in Donald Trump". The Atlantic. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Cuda, Amanda (March 5, 2016). "We Were Children. I Wasn't the Only Victim". Connecticut Post.
- ^ "Racist Threats Case Filed by Stamford High Student Settled for $37,500". Danbury News Times. January 23, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f Zimmerman, Amy (May 9, 2018). "Meet Candace Owens, Kanye West's Toxic Far-Right Consigliere". The Daily Beast. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ a b c Singal, Jesse (April 18, 2018). "The Strange Tale of Social Autopsy, the Anti-Harassment Start-up That Descended into Gamergate Trutherism". Select All. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
- ^ Controversial Bully Shaming Database Loses Kickstarter but Will Launch Anyway. The Daily Dot, April 15, 2016
- ^ Sanchez, Luis (May 15, 2018). "Activist Praised by Trump Once Ran Online Publication That Mocked Him: Report". TheHill. Retrieved May 16, 2018.
- ^ "Degree180: Candace Owens' Defunct Liberal-Leaning Website". May 16, 2018. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ Owens, Candace (October 4, 2015). "News Update: The Republican Tea Party Is Led by the Mad Hatter". Degree180. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
- ^ Watkins, D (September 25, 2017). "Candace Owens of Red Pill Black, the Toxic Right's Newest African-American Star". Salon.
- ^ Fox News: "Liberals Sick of the Alt-Left Are Taking 'the Red Pill'" By Elizabeth Ames September 13, 2017
- ^ "In Liberal Illinois, TPUSA's Charlie Kirk and Other Speakers Strike a Chord with Conservative Crowds – Turning Point USA News". May 3, 2018. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
- ^ "Kanye West Tweets that He Likes the Way Far-Right Personality Candace Owens 'Thinks'". The FADER. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
- ^ "Kanye West Applauds Black Lives Matter Critic; Many Fans Revolt: 'This Is So Disturbing'". TheWrap. April 21, 2018. Retrieved April 22, 2018.
- ^ Shelbourne, Mallory (May 9, 2018). "Trump Praises Conservative Activist Candace Owens as a 'Very Smart Thinker'". TheHill. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Candace Owens Gets Gently Dunked on by Sarah Silverman over 'Women Who Don't Marry' Tweet". SFGate. May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ Donnelly, Erin (May 18, 2018). "Sarah Silverman Responds to Conservative's Suggestion That Single Women Without Children Are 'Bio-Chemically' Affected". Yahoo!. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ a b Irwin, Demetria (March 6, 2018). "Black woman says NRA was founded to arm Black people and she's wrong".
- ^ Kenney, Tanasia (May 19, 2018). "Is This a Trick? Candace Owens Headed an Anti-Trump Publication Less Than Two Years Ago, Report Reveals". Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ a b c d Lartey, Jamiles (May 9, 2018), "Trump Praises Controversial Pundit Candace Owens as a 'Very Smart Thinker'", The Guardian, retrieved May 18, 2018
- ^ "Candace Owens' rapid rise defending two of America's most complicated men: Trump and Kanye". USA TODAY.
- ^ Feldman, Brian (April 23, 2018). "Kanye West, Galaxy Brain". New York Magazine. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ Vernon, Pete (April 24, 2018). "Politics Meet Publishing in Vooks by Chozick, Farrow, Goldberg, Tapper". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ Abdurraqib, Hanif (April 27, 2018). "Why Is Kanye West Sounding Like the Alt-Right?". Pacific Standard.
- ^ @realcandaceo (April 21, 2018). "Far right? Allow me to clarify: I believe the black community can do it without hand-outs" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ @realcandaceo (May 9, 2018). "I'm not opposed to it. Send me an e-mail"(Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ a b c Munson, Emilie (September 15, 2018). "Candace Owens: from Stamford High 'victim' to conservative firebrand". Connecticut Post.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Haltiwanger, John. "Candace Owens says Trump will 'crack the black vote' because he loves America and 'the left hates' it". Business Insider. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Who Is Candace Owens, Kanye West's Favorite New Thinker?". The Daily Dot. May 14, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ "In Kanye West, the Right Sees Truth-Telling and a Rare A-List Ally". The New York Times. April 27, 2018. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ "The Ignorance of Kanye West". Vox. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ a b Scott, Eugene (April 22, 2018). "Analysis | Kanye West's Embrace of a Black Trump Supporter Not Well-Received". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved May 18, 2018.
- ^ "'I Love the Way Candace Owens Thinks'". NewsComAu. Retrieved May 18,2018.
- ^ "TPUSA Representatives Talk Identity Politics, Trump and Empirical Evidence". The Stanford Daily. May 30, 2018. Retrieved June 17, 2018.
- ^ a b Sommer, Will (June 13, 2018). "Conservatives Turn on Candace Owens, Kanye West's Favorite Republican". The Daily Beast. Retrieved June 13, 2018.
- ^ a b Herndon, Astead W. "At Conservative Women's Conference, a Safe Space for Trumpism". Retrieved June 17, 2018.
- ^ a b Nagle, Angela (December 2017). "The Lost Boys: The Young Men of the Alt-Right Could Define American Politics for a Generation". The Atlantic. Candace Owens, a popular young black conservative also known as Red Pill Black, has mastered new media platforms, but in service of advocating for something closer to a traditional strain of conservatism: She’s critical of the press, feminism, and open borders, but supports gay marriage
- ^ "Members of a Conservative Student Group Apologize to Charlie Kirk, Candace Owens over 'Misunderstanding' on Mollie Tibbetts Event". Business Insider. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
- ^ "Mollie Tibbetts' Twitter Shows She Was a Strong Feminist and Clinton Supporter. Some Republicans Are Using Her Death to Push for Trump's Border Wall". Insider. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
- ^ "Mollie Tibbetts Relative Tells 'Despicable' Partisans Not to Politicize Her Distant Cousin's Death". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
- ^ a b Bixby, Scott (August 24, 2018). "TPUSA Members Quit in Protest of 'Exploiting' Mollie Tibbetts' Death". The Daily Beast. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
- ^ Relman, Eliza (October 24, 2018). "Prominent conservative activists and talking heads are promoting a conspiracy theory that Democrats sent explosive devices to Clinton, Obama, and Soros". Business Insider. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ Gilmour, David (October 26, 2018). "Candace Owens under fire for deleting bomb threat conspiracy tweet". The Daily Dot. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ Anapol, Avery (October 30, 2018). "Kanye West denies he designed 'Blexit' shirts: 'I've been used'". TheHill. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ Klinkenberg, Brendan (October 30, 2018). "Kanye West Distances Himself From Alt-Right Provocateur Candace Owens". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ "What is Blexit?". The Week UK. October 29, 2018. Retrieved October 31, 2018.
- ^ Sommer, Kevin Poulsen|Will (November 3, 2018). "Exclusive: Russian Propaganda Veterans Push Candace Owens' 'Blexit'". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 5,2018.
- ^ Sommer, Will (October 31, 2018). "Pro-Trump Activists Blame Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens for Losing Kanye West". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 31,2018.
- ^ Poulsen, Kevin (November 2, 2018). "Russian Propaganda Veterans Push Candace Owens' 'Blexit' Campaign". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
- ^ "BLEXIT on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
- ^ Nelson, Rebecca (March 6, 2019). "Candace Owens Is the New Face of Black Conservatism". Washington Post. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
- ^ "Critics call out Candace Owens' transphobic views and want Kanye West, Caitlyn Jenner to do the same". mic.com.
- ^ "Rising conservative star Candace Owens is slammed over her newly surfaced Hitler comments". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
- ^ Shannon, Joel (February 11, 2019). "After backlash, conservative pundit Candace Owens clarifies viral Hitler comment". USA TODAY. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
Further reading
External links
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Candace Owens.
