A black Republican candidate for Congress and former professional football player suggested using the term “white privilege” further advances harmful stereotypes about minorities.
“The most popular racist term today… ‘White Privilege’. Don’t you dare tell me my skin color holds me back. Don’t you dare tell me my skin color makes me a victim,” Burgess Owens, a former player on the New York Jets who is now running to represent Utah’s 4th Congressional District, tweeted Monday.
The term “white privilege” refers to a lack of hardship and prejudice white people in the United States and around the world face compared to black people and other minority groups. The phenomenon’s presence in U.S. society has become a hot topic of debate as Black Lives Matter protests spread across the nation following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died when a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.
The most popular racist term today… “White Privilege”. Don’t you dare tell me my skin color holds me back. Don’t you dare tell me my skin color makes me a victim.
— Burgess Owens (@BurgessOwens) June 8, 2020
Owens said the use of the term “white privilege implies skin color holds [African Americans] back.”
“I’m pushing back at the notion that the color of our skin defines what we’re able to accomplish,” he told the Washington Examiner. “We do not all look alike, we don’t all talk alike, and contrary to the opinion of Joe Biden, we don’t all think alike.”
Owens was apparently making reference to controversial comments presumptive Democratic nominee for president, Joe Biden, made earlier this month regarding the black vote in the U.S.
Biden suggested black voters “ain’t black” if they consider voting for President Trump this fall. His campaign later walked the comments back.
“The comments made at the end of the Breakfast Club interview were in jest, but let’s be clear about what the VP was saying: he was making the distinction that he would put his record with the African American community up against Trump’s any day. Period,” the campaign said.
Owens said U.S. leaders need to empower black citizens to make the most of the opportunities they are given and do away with harmful stigmas about minorities.
“I was born in a country where anything is possible,” Owens said. “That gave me hope. That knowledge gave me the ability to chase my dreams. Now we constantly tell young men and women they’re a step back at birth simply based on the color of their skin.”
