Candace Owens erupted Black twitter with her recent take on the Supreme Court ruling to strike down affirmative action at the college level.
On June 29, 2023, Supreme Court justices ruled in a 6-3 majority vote that the admissions programs at Harvard and University of North Carolina violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Owens took to social media called the ruling “a MAJOR WIN in the strive for racial equality.” Then she took it a step further by comparing the ruling to Black athletes in professional sports.
Owens Unleashed
The right wing provocateur and influencer took to Twitter to express her excitement on the Supreme Court ruling.
“Wow!! Affirmative action, something I have spoken out against for the last 7 years, has FINALLY been struck down in a historic Supreme Court ruling,” Owens tweeted.
She continued, “This is a MAJOR WIN in the strive for racial equality, removing the bigotry of low expectations against black students, while permitting Asian and white Americans an EQUAL chance to be rewarded for their hard work. RACE should never be a factor in deciding whether or not you are qualified for anything.”
Owens then compared the affirmative action to success of professional athletes. She even mentioned LeBron James in attempt to validate her point of view.
The Backlash
Owens tweets received 2.5 million views, had over 33.9K likes, and over 4,320 retweets on Twitter. Many people decided to give their opinions on the situation and the conversation seem to be split down the middle.
“The NBA never denied access to white people based on the color of their skin. Therefore the two scenarios aren’t equally comparable,” wrote Craig Rozniecki.
“Universities are primarily for learning but also importantly for building networks that will serve their alumni. And in some fields networks must be built across communication to optimize their effectiveness. Higher education is also about broadening perspectives to improve judgement, and this can only be done in diverse communities. If diversity can’t come organically, the educational institution must cultivate it,” wrote Agona Apell.
Other Twitter users decided to take a comical approach and envisioned Ed Sheeran being the point guard of the Los Angeles Lakers. Either way, Owens sparked a heavy debate online, and it is a topic that will continue to divide Americans.
