Candace Owen Will Testify In Before Congress On Hate Crimes, White Nationalism
Update, 3:38 p.m.: The newest version of this story adds context on the process by which witnesses are asked to testify.
Candace Owens, a conservative commentator and spokesperson for the right-wing campus group Turning Points USA, will testify before Congress about hate crimes and white nationalism, The Hill reported.
Owens will be one of several people testifying Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee, including Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, and Eileen Hershenov, the senior vice president for policy at the Anti-Defamation League.
“This hearing will examine hate crimes, the impact white nationalist groups have on American communities and the spread of white identity ideology. The hearing will also foster ideas about what social media companies can do to stem white nationalist propaganda and hate speech online,” the committee said in a statement.
The minority Republican members of the committee asked Owens and Klein to speak, said Jessica Andrews, the communications director of the House Judiciary Committee for the Republicans.
Owens is a popular conservative speaker with a large social media following, and has gained attention in Republican circles for encouraging black people to leave the Democratic Party.
Owens has said that Hitler would have been “fine” if he stayed in Germany, and suggested that because Hitler wanted Germany to have control of the whole world, that made him a globalist, and not a nationalist. Owens later walked back her comments somewhat in an interview on Fox Business.
Owens was also mentioned in the manifesto of the man who killed 50 people at two mosques in New Zealand last month, in a reference that many observers concluded was insincere and meant to “troll” Owens.
Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. Contact him at feldman@forward.com or follow him on Twitter @aefeldman
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO