Turning
Point USA director of urban engagement Brandon Tatum (left) with communications
director Candace Owens (right). (Christopher Howard/Fox News).
Conservative activist Candace Owens says she wants to
“free” black voters from the decades-long grip of the Democratic Party –
and is urging them to support a new movement she’s calling “Blexit.”
“Blexit is a Renaissance,” Owens told Fox News, giving
the backstory behind the campaign she launched over the weekend. “Blexit is the
black exit from the Democratic Party. It’s the black exit from permanent
victimhood, the black exit from the false idea that we are somehow separate
from the rest of America.”
The campaign made headlines recently after it was
revealed Kanye West helped her design the Blexit logo. “Kanye saw my original
design, and said, ‘I can do it better,’” Owens recalled. “It certainly was. He
redesigned the logo with vibrant colors inspired by his trip to Uganda.”
Despite the recent attention, Owens told Fox News the
concept of Blexit developed over time. As for the name, she recalled, it formed
almost by accident. She was at the Conservative Political Action Conference in
February 2017 and a radio interview had gone long, coinciding with President
Trump’s speech at the event.
“The doors had closed, so I ran into a room where
panelists could watch the speakers on this small TV,” Owens said. “I looked up
and Nigel Farage of the Brexit movement was there. I thought, here in America
we need a ‘Blexit’.”
Attendees
of the Blexit announcement await the "Black State of the Union"
speech delivered by Candace Owens, as she announced "Blexit."
(Christopher Howard/Fox News).
Owens then purchased the "Blexit" domain,
and started garnering support.
Fast forward to today, and she’s added “Founder of the
Blexit Movement” to her resume, next to communications director at Turning
Point USA.
The movement is geared toward the next election cycle,
not the midterms. Owens said she is focused on the 2020 elections and plans to
hold rallies in every major American city she claims has been hurt by
Democratic policies including Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit.
“There are people that want to change their lives that
have been lied to by the media,” Owens said. “There should be something waiting
for them when they make that decision, and, now, Blexit will be there.”
Owens came under fire last week when she tweeted her
doubts that the person behind a spate of mail bombs sent to Democrats was a
conservative. Cesar Sayoc has been charged in the case and is an avowed
supporter of President Trump.
