On Tuesday (April 9), the House Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing called “Hate Crimes and the Rise of White Nationalism.” During it, Black conservative Candace Owens called the Republican party’s Southern Strategy—which used White supremacy as a campaign tool—“a myth that never happened.”
Oscar-nominated director Ava DuVernay promptly took to Twitter to refute the statement, as reported by Shadow and Act. DuVernay called the remarks “White nationalist conservative garbage,” and posted clips from her 2016 documentary “13th” to back up her point:
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Let me go ahead and leave this right here for folks confused about the uninformed mess that someone named Candace Owens is trying to pass off as truth. In fact, it’s just white nationalist revisionist garbage. The Southern Strategy goes as follows. And the marathon continues. https://t.co/era1mzwij2
rnt— Ava DuVernay (@ava) April 9, 2019
rntDuVernay went on to say that not only did the strategy exist, but that Owens’ speech was a clear indictor that it was successful.
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The Southern Strategy succeeded in many ways. One was on display today in front of the House Judiciary Committee in the form of a black woman spouting revisionist history about pain suffered by black people, suggesting the Strategy never existed. Keep your eyes open, beloveds. https://t.co/fDuauomeg7
rnt— Ava DuVernay (@ava) April 9, 2019