No, Candace Owens: Blacks are actually better off today than in the 1940s

Turning Point USA’s Candace Owens recently tweeted some thoughts about the state of African-Americans in the United States:

While black politicians may not necessarily equal progress, overall, blacks are societally not worse off than they were in the 1940s.

First, apparently Owens ignores the history of the Jim Crow era, which consisted of institutional segregation against blacks. In the 1940s, blacks were not allowed to attend the same schools as whites. In the 1940s, blacks were refused service at places of accommodation like restaurants. In the 1940s, blacks were actually subjected to institutional police brutality. In the 1940s, blacks rarely interacted with whites.

Today, blacks are allowed to attend the same schools as whites. Today, blacks are virtually treated the same as whites in restaurants, movie theaters, and pretty much everywhere else in public. Today, while there are unfortunate instances of police officers abusing their authority, blacks are not institutionally targeted (in fact, police violence against blacks is actually rare). Today, blacks interact with whites all the time.

Now, let us separate the racial differences between the eras, which Owens is ignorant about, and switch to the economic policies which have failed blacks since the 20th century.

Wall Street Journal writer Jason Riley, an expert on race relations, said, “Between 1940 and 1970, that is during the Jim Crow era, with its racist laws, before any affirmative action, the number of blacks in middle-class professions quadrupled.”

Discussing the failed War on Poverty, which launched in the 1960s, Riley said, “A strong case can be made that to the extent that a social program, however well-meaning, interferes with a group’s self-development, it does more harm than good. Government policies that discourage marriage and undermine the work ethic — open-ended welfare benefits, for example — help keep poor people poor.”

While black politicians have not equaled progress due to the failed leftist policies which are still implemented and advocated, presently, blacks are not viewed the way they were in the 1940s. Today, blacks have more opportunities than ever to climb out of poverty and, more importantly, are not viewed as second-class citizens.

What is unfortunate is that the welfare state has infringed on such progress.

The intellectual Thomas Sowell correctly remarked, “The relationship between political success and economic success has been more nearly inverse than direct.”

Of course, going back to Jim Crow would only be regressive and would fix none of the issues blacks face today. Without the political progress blacks achieved, the chance to take on socioeconomic hardships would be improbable. The time to address the latter is urgent.

Conservatism and the Republican Party must follow former vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp’s example of appealing to blacks, especially in the inner cities. But people like Owens only hurt the cause. They must be able to finish the work which Kemp attempted but ultimately fell short of completing. They must make the case that, like government policies which held blacks back socially during Jim Crow, government welfare policies today hold blacks back from working and climbing the socioeconomic ladder.

Additionally, they must continuously make the case that school choice is today’s civil rights issue and gives blacks a refuge from failing public schools.

If we are to help blacks obtain a better life, like any issue, we must be able to rationally look at the problem and, unlike Owens, not think emotionally. If we are going to learn from history in order to enable a better future, we must do so by looking at the past accurately. Without the civil rights movement, blacks would likely have no chance to succeed both politically and socioeconomically.

Jackson Richman (@JacksonRichman) is an editor and daily columnist at the National Discourse.