Former NFL Star Says 'Every Bad Thing That’s Happened' to Black People Was Caused by Democrats
A former NFL standout spoke out about slavery reparations Wednesday — and directed his ire at the Democratic Party.
Burgess Owens, a Pro Bowl safety who played for the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders, testified in front of a House Judiciary subcommittee in regards to HR 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act.
The legislation would set up a panel to “examine slavery and discrimination in the colonies and the United States from 1619 and recommend appropriate remedies.”
Owens, who is black, took a different approach than the others who testified: He ripped into the Democratic Party for its historical mistreatment of African-Americans.
“I used to be a Democrat until I did my history and found out the misery that that party brought to my race,” he said.
Owens said he opposes slavery reparations but suggested the Democratic Party pay restitution for the damage it has done to the black community.
“I do not believe in reparation because what reparation does, it points to a certain race, a certain color and it points them as evil and points the other race — my race — as one that has not only become racists but also beggars,” he said. “I do believe in restitution. Let’s point to the party that was part of slavery, KKK, Jim Crow, that has killed over 40 percent of our black babies, 20 million of them. …
“How about the Democratic Party pay for all the misery brought to my race and those, after we learn our history, who decide to stay there, they should pay also. They’re complicit.
“And every white American, Republican or Democrat, that feels guilty because of your white skin, you should need to pony up also — that way we can get past this reparation and recognize that this country has given us greatness.”
Wow, Burgess Owens just stunned everyone:
“I used to be a Democrat until I did my history and found out the misery that that party brought to my race… Let's pay restitution. How about the Democratic Party pay for all the misery brought to my race…" pic.twitter.com/ZXuwncFreV
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) June 19, 2019
As Owens noted, slavery and Jim Crow laws in the 1800s occurred in the Democrat-dominated South.
Presidents James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce, both Democrats, did nothing to end slavery in the 1850s.
President Woodrow Wilson, another Democrat, showed “Birth of a Nation,” a movie glorifying the Ku Klux Klan, at the White House. And 21 Senate Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Owens also spoke with Breitbart following the hearing and went into greater detail about his political views.
“Every bad thing that’s happened to my race over the years, you can go right back to the Democratic Party,” he said. “Whether it be Chicago, whether it be Mississippi.”
The former Miami Hurricanes All-American said he sees continued mistreatment of black people by the Democrats to this day.
“We need to make sure we realize who that is. It’s the Democratic Party,” he said. “It’s the KKK [and] Jim Crow. It’s the segregationists.
“It’s the same ones right now targeting our babies and our mothers for abortion. These eugenicists — these folks — throughout the last hundred years have done misery to our race. We need to point them out.”
Owens pointed to Democrat-run cities as a showcase of the party’s divisive actions.
“Their vision of what America should be — just go to Chicago, Baltimore and other urban communities, you’ll see exactly what Democrats think,” he said. “They’re going to bring up whatever they can to keep dividing us.”
This is far from the first time Owens has spoken out against Democrats and leftism.
In 2016, he wrote a book titled “Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men into Whiners, Weenies and Wimps,” and last year he released “Why I Stand: From Freedom to the Killing Fields of Socialism.”
Earlier this year, Owens appeared on Fox News and ripped socialism, saying it was “evil” and will “destroy anything it comes close to.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
