Burgess Owens is an anomaly in Congress, not only does he serve from one of the most white states in America, but he is a staunch Republican. Out of the 57 black congressional members, just two are Republicans. But this fact has not made Owens shy to speak his mind.
Owens has been outspoken on many issues including slavery reparations and the border crisis. He recently said regarding the border crisis “they are coming to your neighborhoods, and they do not share our culture or values.” By (they) he meant the illegal immigrants. But the Salt Lake Tribune used the opportunity to infer that “they” meant all immigrants and refugees, so they wrote a scathing editorial letter and political cartoon condemning Owens for his comments, equating him with KKK white supremacists of the 1960s.
Owens testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 20th, 2021, against how the Democrats were using the term “Jim Crow in 2021” to describe Georgia’s new election laws that require all mail-in ballots to only be valid if a government-issued ID verifies a person’s identity.
Owens condemned the Democrats’ actions and he spoke out against what they are doing in using Jim Crow Laws (segregation laws), to mischaracterize a very logical law change that needed to occur. This is one of the pivotal issues right now in the nation, as Democrats want to make mail-in ballots more common and easy; while Republicans want to ensure verification of a person’s identity. Democrats label these measures as “voter suppression laws”.
Georgia has become the battleground for this issue, and due to Georgia passing these reforms big corporations are condemning the actions. Burgess Owens is sure to continue to be a lightning rod politically in Utah and we will continue to cover his stance on major issues along with Utah’s other congressional members.
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