Burgess Owens: John Lewis Stopped Being a Leader Long Ago

January 17, 2017

WRITER

Sixty years ago, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) was a courageous leader in America's Civil Rights Movement. Today, he silently sits by while policies pass that hurt the black community. For example, during Obama's first year in office, school choice ended for many African-American children and nearly 16,000 were taken out of great schools and put back into America's failing public school system. John Lewis said nothing.

Former NFL great Burgess Owens, author of Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men into Whiners, Weenies and Wimps, joined The Glenn Beck Program on Tuesday and didn't hold back when the subject of Lewis came up.

"We need to be honest about this, and we can't charge somebody with being a racist, an Uncle Tom, because we're telling the truth. So, yes, he did great things 60 years ago. Sixty years later is when we need him, and he is not available. He has not been for a long time. As a matter of fact, he's done everything he can to hurt our race: More abortion, less education, less jobs," Owens said.

Is it time for Lewis to retire?

Enjoy this complimentary clip from The Glenn Beck Program:

GLENN: Hello, America. And welcome to the Glenn Beck Program. As we enter the final days of Barack Obama, let's take a few minutes and look back. And we wanted to do so with Burgess Owens, an NFL great, friend of the program. Author of the book, Liberalism: How to Turn Good Men Into Whiners, Weenies, and Wimps.

And, Burgess, we wanted to take a look at Barack Obama and ask this question: Did he miss the biggest opportunity this nation has ever seen when it comes to healing the divide?

BURGESS: Good morning, Glenn. I'm looking forward to chatting with you about this topic. And the answer to that is absolutely.

Let me just start off by saying that one of the things that I was very fortunate to do was grow up in an era where we really had strong visionary, good, confident people moving forward. And if anybody out there wants to see what I talked about in my book, look at the movie Hidden Figures. You see a community that Americans would love to be a part of.

What has happened in the last eight years is that the black community, those who believe and trusted and gave all their hope to his man, has done so much worse than they have since in my memory.

One thing we've always had, even when things were tough, is we had hope. We worked hard, and we could educate ourselves. We can believe in the American Dream. We can work hard enough to overcome all obstacles.

And Hidden Figures, that movie shows you what happens when people believe that. We have now a community who is more hopeless, more miserable, more angry, and less educated and really believe that they have led to the man, just because of his color, that he is going to take care of them.

So we have a lot of making up to do now.

GLENN: Burgess, does the -- and I know, you know, the black community, you know, it can't be lumped together as much as the white community can't be. Any community can't be. It's not monolithic. However, in its vote, it is pretty monolithic.

Does the black community believe what you just said?

BURGESS: Well, what's happening -- and you hit it on the head. We're very monolithic. The great thing, the president -- with President Obama is that we're beginning to think now as a group, as a race, we're beginning to peel ourselves away and wonder about results now.

You have liberals and Democrats like Jim Brown, who I have a lot of respect for, Steve Harvey, I have a lot of respect for, because they're putting their race above their ideology.

When you have Americans beginning to do that and looking at Americans first, Martin Luther King III made a very strong point the other day: How in this nation can we have between 40 to 50 million people in poverty is -- is ridiculous.

We're now beginning to think and ask those questions. Why? And that's the one thing Obama has done for us, is put us in such -- he's failed in so many different ways, that we're beginning to wonder if his ideology is truly the best for us, and that's a great place for us to be.

GLENN: So are we worse off today, or better off?

BURGESS: All right. That's a good question. We're worse off in terms of statistics. We're better off in terms of the future. We're better off because we're finally asking those questions, and we're finally beginning to talk like we hadn't talked in a while, opening ourselves up. And we're having a dialogue about people, with people like John Lewis. John Lewis is a good example. When I talk about my book, the royalty of black class, he is the type of individual that has been the worst for our race, because he lives in the past. He lives in what he did 60 years ago. And then, meanwhile, 60 years later, people are living in misery. And he sits there and allows it to happen with total silence because of his allegiance to an ideology of socialist versus his race.

So we're -- in a way, our future is brighter, because we have these kind of dialogues. And we're have black men and women standing up finally and speaking against the group think. And we're having white Americans beginning to stop apologizing for themselves. And I think that's a good place for us to be.

PAT: Burgess, if anybody says that -- if a white person says what you just said about John Lewis, oh, my gosh. Oh, the humanity. What a racist. You know.

GLENN: What's amazing about John Lewis is this weekend, the two sides were so split, he was either a God or he did nothing, ever, in his life.

PAT: Uh-huh.

GLENN: I mean, I heard -- I read so many posts and tweets that said, "John Lewis is a nobody and never really played a role in the civil rights movement." I don't think that's true at all.

Why do we have to destroy everything?

BURGESS: Well, what we have to do is we have to be honest about this process. And let me just use an analogy, guys. Since I played NFL, I can use this and be very confident with it. I played with two great quarterbacks in my career, Joe Namath, last three years with him, and Jim Plunkett. Both the most valuable players in the Super Bowl that they played in. Great athletes.

But guess what great athletes do? Leon Poker (phonetic), what he did is a great CEO. When you get to the point that you can't perform anymore, that you're no longer of value, you retire.

Now, what's happened with John Lewis is he should have retired a long time ago because he's not been doing the things for the black community. He sits over a community that's been going downhill fast and being very quiet.

I look at something like -- for example, there's 2,000 black kids, with the very first year that Barack Obama came to office that were taken out of great schools and put back into the failing schools because they decided to get rid of choice. That's 16,000 black kids impacted. John Lewis said nothing.

So, yes, 60 years ago, he did a great thing. He was very courageous. But leaders either maintain their courageous acts, or they stop being leaders. He has stopped being a leader for a long time. We need to be honest about this. And we can't charge somebody being a racist, an Uncle Tom, because we're telling the truth. So, yes, he did great things 60 years ago. Sixty years later is when we need him, and he is not available. He has not been for a long time. As a matter of fact, he's done everything he can to hurt our race: More abortion, less education, less jobs.

You go to Libya (phonetic), what socialists do to black people, and he's been at the very head of that, as he continues to get elected and lives like a king.

So I don't have a lot of respect for what John Lewis has done today. He did a great thing 60 years ago. When I was in the seventh grade, I was also demonstrating, along with thousands of other Americans all over the country. A lot of us demonstrated. A lot of people got bloodied. But we moved on with life and tried to make an impact and help our race in the future

GLENN: Burgess, you said in some ways, statistically, we're not better off. You were talking about the black community. Let's talk about the community at large.

Tensions are at I think record highs since the 1960s. I've never seen it like this. We do have a great opportunity, but this window will close.

How -- how do we -- if -- if the Democrats decide to sharpen the knives and go after this president and -- and have no self-reflection and the Republicans take this win without any self-reflection and they just sharpen their knives, we're not going to come together.

Do you see hope for us on the horizon coming together? Are there enough people saying, "I'm tired of this game?"

BURGESS: Well, yes, I do. I think the key to this is -- first of all, the Democrats will sharpen their knives. That's what they do. That's part of their nature.

Now, it's going to be up to the Republican -- the conservative branch of the Republican Party to very simply keep their word.

One thing that I'll say -- and when you have people who I respect, Jim Brown, Steve Harvey. Again, totally different ideology. But they're sitting down with Donald Trump and talking about how to work with the inner city. At the end of the day, it's all about people. If we allow and focus as a middle class country, that most -- that so many of us are and use the empathy that's always been part of the middle class, we're going to start focusing on our kids in the middle -- in inner city -- and poor kids around the country, to become educated.

Education is the strongest tool to keep a country free. You're going to have kids and young people getting jobs. Having a job and understanding the work ethic and the pride that comes from that is one of the greatest things to keep a country free.

We're going to start putting the value of life -- once again, having a debate about Planned Parenthood. What they are and where they came from. So educate people. So, yes, we have a tremendous opportunity. And I personally believe that American people will step to the plate once again. We voted for -- we voted against Hillary for a reason. We voted for our future and self-empowerment for a reason. And I believe we're going to step to the plate and demand that these guys keep their word and the poorest of us and those that are the most vulnerable will be taken care of and we're going to feel good about ourselves and move forward with that.

Democrats will never have that power over us again.

GLENN: What is your sense of Donald Trump? What are you hoping for, and what are you expecting over the next four years?

BURGESS: It's been a very pleasant surprise. I was not a Donald Trump fan, initially. But I will tell you, that morning, November 9th, I did wake up more hopeful than I had been in a long time because at least we have a chance. I believe at that point that Heavenly Father hasn't given up on us. They give us a little more time for us to get ourselves together.

And the people that he's surrounding himself with right now, I'm very, very excited about. So the most important thing -- and, you know, I grew up -- my great hero was Ronald Reagan. He was the first conservative that really got my attention, that I really understood. He was a great articulator. He was a -- he had a way of getting around the media.

It is scary at times to see Donald tweet, but I'll tell you what he's doing, he's getting around the liberal media like no one else has ever done before. And it's actually what had to happen for us to be able to connect. And for those to get away from the messaging that's been done in the last decade, we need to find a way for us to get some truth. And hopefully we can get that. So I'm hopeful in the short -- long answer to a short question, I'm very hopeful for what will happen in the next four years.

GLENN: Burgess Owens. Author of the book Liberalism. Or How to Turn Good Men Into Whiners, Weenies, and Wimps. This is an extraordinarily brave book and a look into the things that need to be said in America to all races. Burgess, it's always good to have you on.

BURGESS: Can I say this real quick?

It's all about team. All about team. Look right now, Glenn, we take what we have -- the talents we have, and together, message, debate, think through, and just make sure that we get the very best out of the whole process. We don't have to all agree. We just have to, first of all, believe our country, love our country, and try to do our best as individuals. We'll make this thing happen.

GLENN: Thank you very much, Burgess, appreciate it.

The case for mass deportation

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Unchecked illegal immigration into America may be the most dangerous issue our country faces today, and with every day it goes unsolved, the risk of a terrorist attack of 9/11 proportions only increases.

Despite the risk, we can't even touch the subject without the Left and the mainstream media having a meltdown. Even suggesting that the tide of undocumented immigrants may pose some sort of national problem will quickly get you labeled as a racist, stumping intelligent conversation before it can even begin. But as any right-minded Conservative will tell you, calls to close the border and deport the people who stole into our country have nothing to do with race.

In his most recent TV special, Glenn described in detail what sorts of dangers we have let into our countries, with facts and figures that prove that if we don't act soon we will be in deep trouble. Glenn made it clear: we need to conduct a mass deportation or risk being torn apart from within. Here are three reasons that make the case for mass deportations:

Islamic terror cells are forming in South America.

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Congressional testimony from the Committee on Homeland Security in 2011 revealed that Hugo Chavez held a "Secret Summit" involving the Supreme Leader of Hamas, the Chief of Operations for Hezbollah, and the Secretary General of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Caracas, Venezuela. It is clear that ever since (and possibly before) there has been a Radical Islamic Terrorist presence in Venezuela. Right now there is an Iranian beachhead off the Venezuelan coast on Margarita Island, where the Iranian government is running criminal activities and recruiting and training Venezuelan gangs. These gangs have used our border crisis to infiltrate the U.S. The most infamous of these gangs, Tren de Aragua, has been declared a terrorist organization by the State of Texas.

Terrorist-backed gangs are smuggling in weapons and tearing through the country.

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What are these Iranian-trained and backed gangs doing in America? As you can imagine, nothing good. Just this year alone an estimated million rounds of ammunition, 1.2 million gun parts, 3,000 body armor vests, and thousands of pieces of other military paraphernalia have been smuggled across the border. On top of that, they have already taken over an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado, and are now terrorizing the remaining residents.

It's noteworthy that the gang managed to move into the apartment in the first place because they received subsidies through an NGO that was assisting the Colorado asylum seekers program, using money given to the state by the Biden administration in 2021.

Gangs have attacked military bases.

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It hasn't stopped at apartment complexes either. A leak from the U.S. Army revealed that the gangs have launched probing attacks on military facilities within the U.S. Members have been sighted taking surveillance photos of Lackland Air Force Base, as well as firing multiple shots into the facility. Another military base in Texas, Fort Sam Houston, caught a gang member attempting to gain access to the facility. This coincides with suspicious activity documented within the Permian Basin, the largest oil field in the U.S.

They are smuggling in vast quantities of military equipment, probing and surveying military facilities and key energy locations, and taking over residential areas. What exactly is going on and why isn't the federal government taking it more seriously?

VP debate recap: A Vance victory

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This might have been the most consequential VP debate in recent memory.

For those of you who missed the debate, it was a decisive victory for J.D. Vance and the Trump-Vance team as a whole. Vance presented a calm, collected, and considerate side of the Republican party that compliments Trump and helps to make their platform more palatable. Meanwhile, Tim Walz had a lackluster, though certainly not catastrophic, night. He had a few embarrassing gaffes and came across as overly nervous, but like Vance, kept it civil.

Both VP candidates entered the stage as relative unknowns to most Americans, and by the end, both men had given an accurate representation of their characters. Here is a brief recap just in case you missed the debate:

J.D. Vance looked great

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Vance came out of the gate swinging, with a stellar opening statement that helped set the stage for the rest of the debate. He delivered a concise yet compelling recap of his life, which framed him as everything Walz claims to be: a relatable veteran from humble beginnings who earned his position through hard work and service. He then went on to deliver a clear and palatable defense of Trump's platform and mission while cooly drawing attention to the failures of the Biden-Harris administration.

Overall, J.D. Vance looked incredibly presidential. He presented himself not just as a capable vice president, but as a strong successor to Trump and as a valid replacement if anything should happen to the former president between now and the end of his hypothetical second term. Vance also successfully dispelled the notion that he is "weird" as Walz called him, and if anyone looked strange during the debate, it certainly wasnot Vance.

Tim Walz's gaffes

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While Tim Walz certainly didn't have an awful night, he did not stack up well against Vance. Walz had a major gaffe around halfway through the debate when asked to explain the change in his position on assault weapon bans. Walz then claimed that he had befriended school shooters during his time in office. While that was clearly not the intention of what he was saying, it was embarrassing nonetheless.

Another weak moment was when the moderators asked Walz to explain a claim he had made regarding being in Hong Kong during the infamous Tiananmen Square protest in 1989, which has since been proven false. Walz gave a long-winded, rambling answer about taking students to visit China and how Trump should have joined in on those trips, before being called out by the moderator for dodging the question.

Vance fact-checked the fact-checkers

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One of the conditions of the CBS debate was that the moderators would not fact-check the debaters live, but instead rely on after-the-matter fact-checking. But, CBS couldn't keep to its own rules. While Vance was describing the migrant crisis that has swelled during the Biden-Harris administration, one of the CBS moderators, Margaret Brennan, chimed in with a "fact check." She claimed that the Haitian migrants in Ohio have legal status, to which Vance clapped back by calling Brennan out for breaking the rules of the debate, then proceeded to correct her, explaining that they only had legal status due to overreach by the Biden-Harris administration.

Dockworker strike: Everything you need to know

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At midnight on September 30th, dockworkers across the East Coast went on strike, effectively cutting the country's import and export capabilities in half.

Don't go out and panic buy a pallet of toilet paper and instant ramen just yet. It's going to take some time for the full effects of the strike to be felt and hopefully, the strike will be good and over by then. But there are no guarantees, and this election cycle could get significantly more insane as we draw near to the election. And even if the strike is settled quickly, it shows growing cracks in our infrastructure and industrial capacity that needs to be addressed if America wants to maintain its global dominance.

Here is everything you need to know about the dockworker strike:

What do the dockworkers want?

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As with most strikes, pay is the driving factor behind this situation the country now finds itself in. The longshoremen want more pay, and with rising inflation who can blame them? After all, working the docks is hard and dangerous business, and fair compensation only seems... fair. But when you compare the wage of a dockworker, which is around $100,000 to $200,00 a year to the average income in America of $56,000, suddenly they seem significantly less sympathetic.

How much money are they asking for? For most Americans, a three percent raise is considered high, but the unions are asking up to 15 percent, depending on location. On top of that, they are asking for a 77 percent raise over the next six years. The West Coast dock workers recently made off with a 36 percent raise and were considered lucky. These increases in costs are just going to be transferred to the end consumer, and we'll likely see a jump in prices if these terms are accepted.

The other major ticket item is protection against automation. Autonomous ports are quickly becoming a reality, with major ports in China that are capable of handling vast amounts of cargo being run by a single office, not an army of dock workers. Naturally, the longshoremen are concerned that their jobs are at risk of being replaced by machines that can work harder, longer, for cheaper, and without risk of injury.

How will it affect Americans?

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Don't panic yet!

It is going to take some time for consumers to feel the effects of the strike and it is possible that a resolution could happen at any time.

Week one should be pretty much business as usual. It might be a good idea to stock up on fruit and other perishables, but there is no need to go COVID-lockdown-crazy yet.

Week two is when you'll first start feeling the pinch. Fresh fruits and veggies will become scarce, along with other imported goods like shoes, toys, and TVs. Prices will start to creep up as the shelves will start to look a little sparse. The supply of tools, lumber, and other hardware materials will also begin to dry up.

By week three, the cracks in the system will really start to show. Entire industries will begin to slow down, or even stop. Factory workers will get furloughed and sent home without pay. Stores will have to ration items, prices will be sky-high, and online orders will come to a standstill. At this point, the strike will have escalated into a full-blown crisis, and even if it was resolved immediately, it would still take weeks to restore everything to working order.

At the four-week mark, the situation will have developed into a national security crisis, and as Glenn describes, a poly-crisis. Small business will be closing their doors, entire brands will be out of stock, and everything that remains will be so expensive it is unaffordable. By this point, the holiday season will be drawing near and there will be a rush on any sort of gift or decor items left. At this point, irreparable damage to our economy will have occurred and it will be months if not years before it can be mended.

While that sounds bleak, with the election just around the corner, it seems unlikely that the Biden-Harris administration will let it get that bad. That being said, their administration has not been characterized by good decision-making and reasonable policy, so there are no guarantees.

What can be done?

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The big question is "Why hasn't Biden already done something?"

President Biden, who ran on the image of a blue-collar, union-worker, has been uncharacteristically absent from the issue. Despite his earlier involvement in a train strike, Biden has declared that involvement in union fights is not a presidential issue unless it getsreally bad.

So where's the line? At what point will he step in? He has to understand that an economic crisis right before the election will reflect poorly on Kamala.

Join Glenn TONIGHT for BlazeTV's exclusive VP debate coverage!

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Join Glenntonight for Vice Presidential debate coverage you do not want to miss!

Tonight is the first (and only) Vice Presidential debate, and it will be hosted by CBS News. But don't be reliant on CBS News or any other mainstream media channel for their biased coverage. Join the BlazeTV live stream tonight to get the uncensored truth alongside top-quality commentary from Glenn and the rest of the world-class panel.

Glenn is joined by Megyn Kelly, Liz Wheeler, Allie Beth Stuckey, Steve Deace, Jill Savage, Dave Landau, and more to cover the CBS News Vice Presidential Debate. Blaze Media subscribers gain access to live chat with the fantastic panel of hosts! If you subscribe today by visiting BlazeTV.com/debate you will get $40 off of your annual subscription with code DEBATE. This is the largest discount ever offered, so take advantage NOW!

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