Rumor vs Reality
- Reality Team
- October 21, 2020
This card was produced in partnership with the Stop Digital Voter Suppression Project.
In late 2018, conservative pundit Candice Owens co-opted the name ‘Blexit’ in coordination with right-wing conservatives. Her goal was to convince Black Americans to leave the Democratic party. Since the 2018 midterm elections, Owens has used social platforms and physical events to push out misleading information about voting, COVID-19, and the Democratic party. This is part of a broader effort to target and suppress the Black vote.
Originally, Blexit (Black exit) was a Minneapolis-based movement that was formed in response to the murder of Philando Castile. Their goal was to create a national movement to address economic racial disparities and oppression within the Black Community.
References
Insight News: Minneapolis-based Blexit threatens trademark infringement, legal action against Candace Owens
Washington Post: Fake Twitter accounts posing as Black Trump supporters appear, reach thousands, then vanish\
4 News: Revealed: Trump campaign strategy to deter millions of Black Americans from voting in 2016
Vox: Trump’s latest White House event put some of the nation’s most vulnerable people at risk
Columbia Journalism Review: Manipulation Machines: How disinformation campaigns suppress the Black vote
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