Although Candace Owens is making her take on the recent overruling of Affirmative Action very clear, she is using some questionable comparisons to do so.
In a recent twitter rant, the conservative political commentator used Lebron James and Black athletes success in the professional sports as a metric to how Asian Americans have been slighted in elite academia.
Imagine if the NBA declined Lebron James because there were “too many black people in the NBA” and they wanted racial diversity—so they instead allowed Ed Sheeran onto the Lakers in his place.
That is exactly what Asian-Americans have been enduring for decades at Harvard.
— Candace Owens (@RealCandaceO) June 30, 2023
“Imagine if the NBA declined Lebron James because there were ‘too many black people in the NBA’ and they wanted racial diversity –so they instead allowed Ed Sheeran onto the Lakers in his place,” argued the ‘Blexit’ organization founder.
Owens continued further in this comparison, stating that Asian-Americans being slighted on the account of their race is unfair. However, this widespread assumption is not actually the case.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the myth that Asian Americans have to work harder to get accepted due to a racial quota that prioritizes other nonwhite groups is statistically untrue. The false notion has been perpetuated nationwide due to unreliable study results, a dependence on unfair standardized tests, and, simply, racism.
Owens, however, is still anti-Affirmative Action, finishing her case with “if black people would like to have a greater presence at Harvard, then we are going to have to work at our academics.”
The talk show host’s commentary has not, historically and presently, been well received and debunked multiple times.
Multiple quoters of the tweet argued that Owen’s comparison lacks nuance and is not a fair analogy, as she ignores the systemic racial barriers at play for applicants of different backgrounds in regards to school admissions.
“When 43% of a leading NBA team is made up of players who got the job primarily because they filled a non-playing role for the team, or their parents played/worked for, or donated to the team, this will be something other than a laughably stupid false equivalence,” shared a Twitter user Dan McClellan.
When 43% of a leading NBA team is made up of players who got the job primarily because they filled a non-playing role for the team, or their parents played/worked for, or donated to the team, this will be something other than a laughably stupid false equivalence. https://t.co/Lh66eOTqWS
— Dan McClellan (@maklelan) June 30, 2023
Candace Owens has been known to cherry-pick facts to support her claims, but those who champion affirmative action, and are disappointed by the Supreme court’s decision, refuse to play into her game.
