Former actress turned activist Rose McGowan blasted the media and rebuffed Black Lives Matter Sunday over their treatment of Larry Elder as a conservative black man.
McGowan appeared alongside Elder at a press conference to endorse Elder and to bring attention to accusations she had previously made against the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Elder is running in a California recall election to replace Newsom.
Elder has previously refuted claims, made by groups like Black Lives Matter, that the United States is systemically racist or that racism is a significant barrier to black people succeeding in the country. Elder reasserted that position during the press conference
“I was described in the LA Times as ‘the black face of white supremacy’ all because I don’t believe in the lie of systemic racism. It is a lie,” Elder said during the press conference. He went on to slam former President Barack Obama for failing as president to further racial reconciliation. Instead, Elder argued, Obama divided the nation more.
Before Barack Obama entered the Oval Office, “you know what his popularity was? 70% before he set foot in the White House. Many people who didn’t vote for him said, ‘okay, I didn’t want to vote for someone who will tax, spend, regulate, [be] soft on national security, soft on the border, but he will at least bring us together so I’ll pull for him.’ 70% popularity,” Elder said. “And what did he do with that? The Cambridge police acted ‘stupidly.’ No they didn’t. ‘If I had a son he’d look like Trayvon.’ What does that even mean? Racism is in America’s DNA, he said. Really?”
“The first time Gallup asked about racism, about whether or not you’d vote for a black president was 1958, and the percentage who said yes was in the high 30s. Now, only 3% said they would not vote for a black president,” Elder continued. “He invited Al Sharpton to the White House over 70 times, one of the most vicious race hustlers in America … Obama had a great opportunity to bring us together and, instead, because he wanted power, he wanted the Democratic Party to remain in power … he divided this country.”
After Elder made his comments, McGowan stepped up to the mic to defend Elder’s perspective. She also took a swing at Black Lives Matter supporters for dismissing Elder’s views.
“People will disavow that, mostly white people that work in the media will disavow what he just said. But understand where it’s coming from and that he might just know more than you, living in a different skin,” McGowan said.
“Now this whole, the BLM, all of this, I’ve been gone. I live in a jungle. I’m not fully aware, I mean, I get it. I saw it, like, last week for the first time really in person,” McGowan said. “But I will ask the white citizens, non-blacks to consider that maybe he has had a different experience than you in this world, and instead of reacting … with violence to what he just said, consider that it’s a different experience. We are not the authorities on that.”