The leaders of the Coalition of African American Pastors (CAAP) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Tuesday why they are supporting President Donald Trump and wholeheartedly believe many black Americans will be voting for him, though some may do so quietly.
CAAP President Rev. Bill Owens and his wife, Deborah De Sousa Owens, said it is both “disturbing” and “dishonest” that a party that celebrated America’s “first black president” now claims the United States is “inherently racist.”
Rev. Owens, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, said he grew up poor, but his mother taught him the value of working hard to get ahead.
“When I grew up, 11 people lived in two rooms, with outside water and an outside toilet,” he explained. “My mother’s sister died, and she took her children in. And I worked. My mother instilled in us the importance of getting an education and working hard.”
“So, in this country the Democrats and these rioters call so bad, I was able to be successful because I earned it,” he continued. “We were taught to earn it. But, the Democrat Party teaches you the government will take care of you. I won’t have that. Black people can do better. It’s a lie that people cannot achieve in America – a lie.”
The Owens’s are authors of the recently released book A Dream Derailed, in which they detail how the policies of the left have destroyed black communities.
Deborah Owens said the rhetoric of the radical Democrat Party is illogical, when one considers the presidency of Barack Obama.
“To me, it’s two-faced, because how could a black man make it to the top politically, and become President of the United States of America, under the American flag, but now they’re saying the country that elected him is inherently racist?” she asked. “That makes no sense to me. His wife the first black first lady? That, to me, doesn’t make any sense. That’s racist. That statement is racist, in my opinion. So, you know, they try to have their cake and eat it too. They don’t have anything to criticize Trump, on substance, so they resort to name calling and trying to stoke division, and bring about resentment and fear and anger.”
“Instead of talking about policies, they talk about personality, and Trump is not racist,” she asserted. “You only have to look at his record and to what he’s done for the African American community, Latinos, and so forth. So, that’s all they have, so they shout ‘racism.’”
Rev. Owens said Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris as his running mate, based on the fact that she is a black woman, comes down to Biden “thinking he can win the black vote, because he knows they’re losing it.”
“So, it is a racist choice,” he asserted. “They know millions of people will see her and vote for their ticket because she’s black – which is based on no substance.”
“Yes, again, Harris has no substance,” Deborah added. “She, as a prosecutor, put black men in jail for smoking marijuana or having possession of marijuana, and then years later, laughed and joked on a talk show, saying she smoked marijuana herself. And, yes, she inhaled.”
“I just can’t believe that she would say something like that so blatantly, after locking so many people up for possessing marijuana,” she continued.
Rev. Owens said the most egregious example of Harris’s hypocrisy is that “she went against Biden harder than anybody.”
“And now, all is forgiven,” he scoffed. “Or, it didn’t happen.”
“Harris said she believed Biden’s accusers, and she also accused them of being racist,” Deborah added. “And, all of a sudden, I guess, everything’s perfect, for the sake of her political ambition.”
Bill Owens said he struggles with what appears to be a pattern that “black politicians get in power, and they go the other way. They forget the people. All they want is the power.”
He said that, with radical ideology so pervasive in the Democrat Party, he cannot see how Biden and Harris can win the election.
“If they were to win, we can just give it up,” he asserted. “If they win, it would be so bad, we could give this country up.”
But, Owens persisted in his belief that Trump will be victorious in November.
“One thing about Trump’s campaign now is how many blacks are really supporting him,” he observed. “I think many blacks don’t want to say they support Trump. I believe, though, there’s an undercurrent of black people. And they’re not telling you, they’re not being vocal about it.”
Deborah said she and Bill have been working to educate the black community.
“We show them the facts,” she said. “A couple of weeks ago, I had our digital person put up a graphic on our website comparing how the policies of the Obama and Trump administrations have helped the African American community.”
“I shared that widely because all people are hearing each day in the media is how racist Trump is,” she continued. “But you have to look at the facts and let the facts speak for themselves. So, I think as we educate people, they will get to thinking Trump can’t be racist if he’s allowed more jobs to be created for African Americans. Before the coronavirus, the black community had its lowest level of unemployment in history.”
“So, while we’re praying for President Trump’s success, we’re also seeing there’s a lot of excitement about his second term,” she said. “I don’t see that same excitement for Biden. It’s almost like they’re stuck with him.”
Rev. Owens has been to the White House several times during Trump’s first term to work on criminal justice reform policy and the problems of illegal immigration.
“Some people don’t realize illegal immigrants take jobs and housing away from the black community,” he said.
The Owens’s would also like to see the Trump administration address the problem of activists pushing transgender ideology in schools and the culture in general.
“I would like to see them address that,” Bill Owens said. “We’re going down the wrong road all the way toward normalizing pedophilia. That’s where this is going. It’s very dangerous.”
Deborah said the transgender movement’s attempt to claim its issues are the equivalent of those of blacks during the civil rights movement of the 1960s is without merit.
“You can’t compare the two at all,” she said.
The Owenses spoke with Breitbart News prior to leaving their home for Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump invited them to attend his acceptance speech on Thursday evening at the White House, the last night of the Republican National Convention.
“We’re honored to have received the invitation and to be representing the Coalition of African American Pastors,” Deborah Owens said.
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