“Black people don’t have to be Democrats,” said Chance the Rapper in a tweet last April. This came after Kanye had tweeted himself that he “likes the way Candace Owens thinks.” While the vision on Blexit did not begin with Kanye, these two rappers helped spark a debate. Why does the Democratic party receive an overwhelming percentage of the black vote?
Many people do not understand the history of the Democratic Party and its relationship with the black community. For decades over 80% of blacks have continuously voted Democrat, and yet blacks have repeatedly shown dissatisfaction for various outcomes in their community.
This disparity was the fuel that inspired Candace Owens when she pioneered the Blexit movement. Owens, the Director of Communications for Turning Point USA, created the name “Blexit” from the combination of two words, “black” and “exit”.
It is also a play on word inspired by “Brexit.” It is a call for Black Americans to exit from the Democratic party and into the realms of free thinking.
Owens, as seen on Blexit.com, defines the movement as being “fueled by individuals who are questioning political dogma and choosing freedom over tyranny.” It is not meant to push blacks from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party; it is designed to promote free thinking.
Blexit was launched Oct. 27, 2018 during Turning Point USA’s Young Black Leadership Summit where over 400 young black leaders were invited to the White House by President Trump. The White House has never had this many young black free thinkers within its walls to be addressed by the president. President Trump even told them, “I believe there are future presidents in this room.”
Many of the attendees came from Democratic backgrounds where their communities told them that President Trump was racist. The free thinkers chose to Blexit and find out for themselves who the president was.
Issues like police brutality, white privilege and black oppression are challenged by blacks across the nation who may identify as conservative or just simply a “free thinker.” They are the same people who believe that fatherless homes and inner city gang violence are greater issues than police brutality or racism. Blexit draws in minorities who also feel betrayed and dissatisfied with former President Barack Obama and his administration.
On the Blexit website, there is a section of “inconvenient truths” with sources that have key factors in what has led many blacks to walk away from the Democratic party. 3,446 black Republicans and 1,297 white Republicans were lynched by the KKK between 1882 and 1968. President Lyndon B Johnson (D) said, “I’ll have those n*ggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.” Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, called for the extermination of blacks saying, “Colored people are like human weeds and need to be exterminated.”
These “truths” are deemed inconvenient because many minorities who identify as Democrat seldom know about them, nor do Democrats in general.
A more recent issue in the Democratic party that many Black Americans are upset about is the President Trump’s recent Prison Reform Bill, which is bipartisan. “How many black ‘leaders’ have spent the last two-plus years speaking out about unfair sentencing for our men— and yet are DEAD SILENT on the prison reform that [Donald Trump] just got done for millions?,” Owens proclaimed on Twitter.
According to The Atlantic, “the House passed bipartisan legislation known as the First Step Act that would authorize $250 million in new funding for prisoner-reentry programs, ban the shackling of pregnant inmates, and expedite early release for elderly inmates and those who earn “good time” credits during their sentences.”
Major civil rights leaders pushed against the bill, such as former Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator Dick Durbin (D) of Illinois, Senator Cory Book (D) of New Jersey and Senator Kamala Harris (D) of California.
Blexit has inspired not just those within the black community, but other minorities as well. While it may cater to the black demographic, the movement inspires people of all backgrounds to not vote based on political allegiance but to instead think independently.
“I’d say America needs a Blexit because Blacks will quickly cease to be a viable political voting bloc if we continue to pledge 90% of our votes to Democrats,” said Rob Smith, a black gay Republican and political commentator. “And Black Americans need to wake up and realize that we are being sold out in favor of policies that favor illegal immigrants over everyone else – and Democrats will use Black figureheads to sell them.”
There has been a strong debate on what exactly the Trump approval ratings are with blacks. CNN made a report that despite what you believe the number to be “Trump had doubled his black support since the 2016 election,” and many believe Owens and Blexit is increasing the number radically.
When the 2020 election comes along Blexit, its founder Candace Owens and the minority vote will have the biggest impact.