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Sunday, May 10, 2020

Candace Owens argues Ahmaud Arbery shooting isn’t about race, draws outrage

Controversial right-wing commentator Candace Owens is known to draw outrage for her public comments, and her recent statements on the shooting death of unarmed Ahmaud Arbery were certainly on brand.

Owens, who was locked out of Twitter a week ago for encouraging a political revolt in Michigan over its shelter-in-place orders, returned to the social media platform to slam the media and protesters decrying the role of racism in Arbery’s murder.

READ MORE: Court docs say Ahmaud Arbery had previous connection with of the men who shot him

On Saturday, Owens tweeted, “Ahmaud Arbery was caught on camera breaking into an unfinished property that was owned by Larry English. His mother has confirmed it is him in the video. Please stop with the “just a jogger” bullshit narrative. Avid joggers don’t wear khaki shorts & stop to break into homes.”

While jogging in a predominantly white neighborhood of Brunswick, Georgia, Arbery was fatally shot while jogging on Feb. 23 by Travis McMichael, 34, who along with his father Gregory McMichael, 64, was charged with murder and aggravated assault on May 7.

READ MORE: 2 men arrested, charged with murder in shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery

(Photo: Twitter)

The McMichaels claim they suspected Arbery of burglary before they chased him down in their pickup truck — along with their guns. While there were several calls placed to 911 over Arbery’s presence in the Satilla Shores neighborhood, none such calls indicate Arbery was committing any crime.

Owens continued her Tweetstorm over the Arbery shooting in a series of posts, including one slamming LeBron James for his comments expressing outrage. “@KingJames — who will never be what Kobe and Jordan were off the court because he lacks intellect,” she tweeted.

“Bro. You have multiples homes, white personal chefs, gardeners and housekeepers. If that’s an example of “literally being hunted” by white people, then sign me up ASAP.”

She went on to use the Arbery shooting as a springboard to bring up black-on-black crime.

“Black America when 9 year old Tyshawn Lee is lured from a basketball court down an alleyway and shot dead by a black gang member: *crickets* Black America when a repeat burglar is shot dead after breaking into a home: RACISM! INJUSTICE! PROTEST! Our culture is a joke,” Owens tweeted, although, again, there is no evidence that Arbery ever committed any crime aside from the McMichaels claiming he did to police after the shooting.

Owens continued to argue that racism was not a factor in Arbery’s shooting, using unverified statistics to apparently suggest Black Americans are more violent than whites.

“FACTS: Blacks kill 2x as man(sic) whites as whites kill black, annually. We commit 85% of all violent crimes, 50% of all murders. Over 90% of blacks killed by homicide are killed by other blacks. BUT LET’S KEEP LYING TO BOTH OURSELVES AND THE PUBLIC & KEEP BLAMING RACISM.

Owens failed to mention that while most Black homicide victims are by the hands of someone of the same race, the same is true for white homicide victims. In fact, FBI data as recent as 2016 reveals there were slightly more white-on-white homicides in the country than there were black-on-black homicides.

It’s also worth noting none of the statistics used by Owens disprove that Arbery, who was unarmed, wasn’t targeted because of his race in the mostly white neighborhood where some fly Confederate flags in front yards.

“2020 definitions: Black man kills a white person= murder Black man kills a black person= murder White person kills a black man= racist lynching indicative of the third coming of the Ku Klux Klansmen, worthy of back to back media coverage, protests and A-list celebrity voices,” she tweeted.

Owens later clarified that her statements did not mean she believed his death was justified, but rather express her resentment that it had anything to do with Arbery’s and the McMichaels’ race.

Candace Owens. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

READ MORE: Ahmaud Arbery video reminds us Black people still get lynched, even today

“Two things can be true at once: -Ahmaud Arbery did not deserve to die. -Ahmaud Arbery was not a jogger gunned down for the crime of being black,” she tweeted.

Later in the evening, Owens tweeted a Daily Mail article about security footage being reviewed by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation that purportedly shows a man in the neighborhood who they believe is Arbery. In the video, the man enters the garage of private property under construction. A Georgia prosecutor, however, told the AJC that entry of a construction site is not necessarily a crime.

“The national debate SHOULD have been about the legitimacy of citizen’s arrests in light of a tragic outcome. Instead, we went with BLACKS ARE LITERALLY BEING HUNTED WHEN THEY STEP OUT OF THEIR HOMES FOR NO REASON. Race-baiting ALWAYS leaves us looking emotional & foolish,” Owens said.

After she became a number one trending topic for the outrage over her tweets, Owens said “I see I’m trending so let me clarify: I WILL NOT BE A SLAVE TO THE DEMOCRAT RACE NARRATIVE. NOT TODAY. NOT TOMORROW. NOT EVER. I WILL NOT PRETEND TO LIVE IN A SOCIETY WHERE BLACKS ARE HUNTED, TO SATISFY THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA MASTERS. I DO NOT SEEK APPROVAL, I SEEK FREEDOM.”

Owens’ tweets drew outrage online and also drove conservatives to come to her defense. See some of the reactions below.

The post Candace Owens argues Ahmaud Arbery shooting isn’t about race, draws outrage appeared first on TheGrio.



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