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A review by inkerly
Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation by Candace Owens
fast-paced
2.0
I had so many thoughts on everything that Candace said, and wanted to make sure I could capture them somewhere so here are my "notes": https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BZRX5MUQBOLoKbhDuP0rMyPB5HxObBwcpbJa-olzpG0/edit#heading=h.763jc8q1pssy
This was my attempt at reading a book outside of my liberal bubble. I wanted to give Owens grace and understand why she is a Black Conservative and believes other black Americans should be too. All this book really tells me though is: "Democrat-bad; Republican-better" with no substantive proof.
The problem with this book is it is intellectually dishonest. Candace Owens wants you to think that black people vote Democrat because we have a sheep mentality and have been "brainwashed" into relying on welfare and handouts to get by (literally her words). The reality is most Black people vote Democrat because there is no other viable option.
U.S. Republicans have made it clear they do not care about black people or minorities. They want Project 2025 to go into full effect, and Donald Trump is their ticket to making that happen. And unfortunately, the 2-party system in America makes voting for Independent or 3rd-party candidates who actually WANT change (RFK, then-Bernie Sanders, etc.) difficult. So, the Democrat vote it is.
If this book had that nuance, this would've been a much more substantive read. Instead she slaps together a slanted history of the Democrat and Republican party, a few cherry-picked statistics about black issues, and a series of random quotes from The Bible, Confucius & Plato (yes the philosophers), MLK and Merriam-Webster (yes, the dictionary). All of the points she's made have been refuted by black college-educated media reps so it's not even worth discussing. But it makes you wonder the little effort that went into using facts and stats-based evidence on her part.
Had she just talked about her upbringing and how it shaped her conservative morals and "free-thinker" mentality, I would've respected that a lot more. She does advocate for black people to do the same. But the pendulum swing from "Democrat plantation - devil" to "Republican plantation - angel" is so laughably try-hard and grifter-like, it's not worth reading.
This was my attempt at reading a book outside of my liberal bubble. I wanted to give Owens grace and understand why she is a Black Conservative and believes other black Americans should be too. All this book really tells me though is: "Democrat-bad; Republican-better" with no substantive proof.
The problem with this book is it is intellectually dishonest. Candace Owens wants you to think that black people vote Democrat because we have a sheep mentality and have been "brainwashed" into relying on welfare and handouts to get by (literally her words). The reality is most Black people vote Democrat because there is no other viable option.
U.S. Republicans have made it clear they do not care about black people or minorities. They want Project 2025 to go into full effect, and Donald Trump is their ticket to making that happen. And unfortunately, the 2-party system in America makes voting for Independent or 3rd-party candidates who actually WANT change (RFK, then-Bernie Sanders, etc.) difficult. So, the Democrat vote it is.
If this book had that nuance, this would've been a much more substantive read. Instead she slaps together a slanted history of the Democrat and Republican party, a few cherry-picked statistics about black issues, and a series of random quotes from The Bible, Confucius & Plato (yes the philosophers), MLK and Merriam-Webster (yes, the dictionary). All of the points she's made have been refuted by black college-educated media reps so it's not even worth discussing. But it makes you wonder the little effort that went into using facts and stats-based evidence on her part.
Had she just talked about her upbringing and how it shaped her conservative morals and "free-thinker" mentality, I would've respected that a lot more. She does advocate for black people to do the same. But the pendulum swing from "Democrat plantation - devil" to "Republican plantation - angel" is so laughably try-hard and grifter-like, it's not worth reading.