Candace Owens used her time onstage at this year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to reject racism's existence, dismiss police brutality and denounce abortion.
CPAC is a four-day event that serves as the largest national gathering of conservatives of all ages and ideologies. The Guardian reports 29-year-old Owens, who has gained fame as a champion of the right, took the stage just before this year's keynote speakers, President Trump and Vice President Pence.
In her speech, Owens accused liberals of "taking away our self-confidence by telling us that we can’t because of racism, because of slavery."
"I’ve never been a slave in this country,” Owens added. “Stop telling us that we need to be obsessing over our past when we should be obsessing over our future and the potential that we have.”
She also outlined three essential ideas that ought to empower conservatives, the Daily Beast reports.
“The truth is on our side as conservatives,” said Owens. "Truth number one: America is not a racist country. The people that continue to tell us that have a vested interest in racism."
She continued, “Truth number two: abortion is murder … A hard-hitting truth is that the most unsafe place for a Black child is not on the streets, it’s not when they see a police officer, it’s in their mother’s womb. Truth number three: racially motivated police brutality is a myth, but father absence is not."
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While Owens reportedly received roaring applause for her address, The Daily Beast reports not all in attendance agreed with her message.
“I don’t think she’s a good representative of the movement and of conservatism because I feel like a lot of the comments she makes — she doesn't think before she says what she says,” said Satya Ath, an 18-year-old Cambodian-American. “I just feel like she has used her platform, her social media and stuff, to say things that are not appropriate at all.”
Some Black conservatives, like 35-year-old Robert Marshall, said Owens does not represent the actual mission of young Republicans of color in the country.
“I think there is a difference between getting press and then actually really pushing a movement,” Marshall said. “I think sometimes, the personality becomes bigger than the movement, and so it takes away from what you’re really trying to do.”
Owens' message has received quite a lot of criticism of late. In February, she was forced to apologize after seeming to offer a defense of Adolf Hitler and Nazism while giving an address in London.
“If Hitler just wanted to make Germany great and have things run well, okay, fine," Owens said. "The problem is that he wanted– he had dreams outside of Germany.”
Here is video of Candace Owens' full answer on nationalism and Hitler pic.twitter.com/NfBvoH8vQg
— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) February 8, 2019
Following anger from conservative groups, particularly those aligned with Israel, Owens apologized in an hour-long livestream. She has yet to offer any additional commentary on her CPAC statements.
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