Candace Owens Shares Her Journey from Hate Crime Victim to Conservative Voice at Liberty University
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Candace Owens Shares Her Journey from Hate Crime Victim to Conservative Voice at Liberty University
Candace Owens delivers a powerful address at Liberty University, revealing how a racially motivated hate crime during her high school years led to years of anorexia and struggle. Through faith and meditation, Owens transformed her victim mentality into a mission to challenge narratives around race, abortion, welfare, and personal responsibility. She explains why she believes God positioned her unique experiences to become a voice in the black community, advocating for individualism over government dependence and encouraging young people to reject victimhood in favor of personal empowerment.
September 26, 2018
From Victim to Victor: A Personal Transformation
Candace Owens opens her Liberty University address with a compelling exercise, asking students to raise their hands if bad things have happened to them—everyone does. Then she asks who considers themselves a victim—almost no hands go up. This distinction between experiencing hardship and adopting a victim mentality frames her entire message and personal journey.
Growing up in Stamford, Connecticut, Owens lived in poverty with her two sisters in a small apartment plagued by roaches. Her grandfather eventually moved the family into his middle-class home when she was eight years old. There, he instilled a daily practice of Bible reading and Scripture discussion, awarding hot chocolate mugs based on their understanding. Though she later felt embarrassed about this Christian upbringing in public school, these foundations would prove essential to her later transformation.
The Hate Crime That Changed Everything
During her senior year of high school, Owens experienced a traumatic incident that would shape the next several years of her life. While watching Talladega Nights with her first boyfriend, she received four blocked calls that went to voicemail. The messages contained horrific racial slurs and death threats from four male voices, including references to Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and threats to tar and feather her family.
The situation escalated dramatically when it was discovered that one of the perpetrators was the son of Connecticut's current Democratic Governor. The case drew FBI involvement, and Owens's face appeared on the front pages of newspapers throughout Connecticut and New York. The six-week investigation concluded with all four young men being arrested—the youngest was only 14 years old.
What the media coverage didn't capture was the devastating personal impact. For the next four and a half years, Owens struggled with anorexia, terrified that people would Google her name and find the story. The only control she felt she could assert over her narrative was through her eating disorder. She describes this period as one where she had fallen far from the girl who sat at her grandfather's kitchen table reading the Bible.
Finding Healing Through Meditation and Faith
While living in Manhattan and paying down student loans after majoring in journalism, Owens discovered yoga and meditation. In the silence and stillness, she began having conversations with herself for the first time in years, asking difficult questions about her happiness and life choices. Through this practice, combined with prayer and focus, she was able to overcome her anorexia.
This journey led to a profound realization: the hate crime hadn't just happened to her—it had also happened to the four young people who left those messages. A 14-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a former friend couldn't truly be racist, she concluded. They were young people learning to be mean in a generation with smartphones, where cruelty could be delivered without face-to-face contact. She recognized that adults had labeled her a "victim" and called children "racists," when a simple apology and understanding might have prevented years of suffering for everyone involved.
A New Perspective on Divine Purpose
Owens shares that she had been angry with God for many things: growing up without money, accumulating $150,000 in student loan debt without completing her degree when Sallie Mae collapsed, and experiencing the hate crime. But her perspective shifted dramatically when she began to believe that God picks people to have specific experiences—both good and bad—for a purpose.
She now believes God wanted her to have her parents, to grow up in a dysfunctional and impoverished household, and to go through the hate crime. In her view, these experiences uniquely positioned her to challenge narratives from the Left because she has lived through everything they claim holds people back.
In early 2017, after a night of drinking, Owens woke up crying with an overwhelming sense that God wanted her to quit drinking. She immediately stopped and uploaded her first YouTube video titled "Mom, Dad, I'm a Conservative." Her third video, attacking CNN's narrative after Charlottesville that the KKK represented a real threat to black Americans, garnered 26 million views worldwide.
Challenging Narratives on Race and Victimhood
Owens positions herself as a voice challenging the narrative that America is fundamentally racist. She argues that CNN was trying to convince black Americans that they should fear the KKK coming after them for not voting for Hillary Clinton. Instead, she encourages people to believe their own experiences rather than what they see on television screens.
She describes what she does as "Kanye-rants"—passionate four-minute speeches challenging Americans to recognize that the country is diverse and provides opportunities for people from humble beginnings to use their voices and reach millions. She asks what other country in the world allows someone to flip open a laptop, rant for four minutes, and reach 26 million homes.
Taking on Feminism, Planned Parenthood, and Welfare
Owens directly addresses several controversial positions that have earned her labels like "Anti-Black" and "Nazi sympathizer." She speaks against what she calls a radical form of feminism that positions men as oppressors, arguing that men are born from women, are our sons and husbands, and deserve to be fought for. She points to the Brett Kavanaugh hearings as an example of what she views as a cultural war on men that should terrify everyone.
On Planned Parenthood, Owens acknowledges that the organization provides services like birth control and mammograms but maintains that "they are also murdering people." She researched the history of eugenics and learned that the organization was founded by someone who "quite literally said that black people need to be exterminated like weeds." She highlights that 900 black babies are aborted every day, totaling 18 million since 1973, while CNN focuses attention on the 16 unarmed black men shot by police annually. She argues that the black population growth has stagnated due to abortion.
Regarding welfare, Owens states she doesn't believe in the system because it has earned people "absolutely nothing" since LBJ implemented The Great Society Act, which he allegedly referred to as the "N-word Bill." She believes the Left wants government to replace God in people's lives, making them turn to government for every solution rather than to faith or community.
The Gift of Kanye West and Dragon Energy
Owens expresses deep appreciation for Kanye West, noting his song "Jesus Walks" as an example of him making Jesus cool in Hip Hop when people told him he couldn't. She argues that the gift of his seven-word tweet—"I love the way Candace Owens thinks"—was opening people's hearts and minds to a different perspective. His wearing of the MAGA hat, she believes, completely destroyed prevailing narratives.
Owens enthusiastically declares her love for Donald Trump, first noting that he's "pointedly hilarious" and expressing genuine confusion about people not enjoying his presidency. Beyond humor, she praises him as an unbelievably strong leader, particularly highlighting his statement to the United Nations assembly that America will be governed by Americans and not by globalists.
What Trump, Kanye West, and Owens have in common, she explains, is what Kanye describes as "dragon energy"—but what she identifies as individualism. It's believing in yourself and standing up when everyone tells you that you can't think a certain way because of your race or gender. It's being governed by what you believe to be truth and living up to expectations you set for yourself.
A Message of Empowerment and Faith
Owens concludes by emphasizing that she believes every person has had experiences prompting them to do something great in the world. When people believe in themselves and align with the universe and God, the universe opens itself up to them—as it did for her. While not everyone will quit their job to make YouTube videos, she insists there's a cultural war happening and everyone can participate in some way.
Her focus remains on presenting a new perspective to the black community, which she believes desperately needs new voices. She wants to stand on platforms and tell people it's not cool to be a victim, that there's no value in victimhood. Her controversial message is simply that she believes in people—that they can succeed without government handouts, based on good ideas, hard work, and Jesus Christ.
She argues that if everyone woke up with confidence believing they could contribute something meaningful to the world, government would naturally shrink. When faced with problems, people would turn to God and their communities rather than arbitrary welfare systems. This message, she believes, is why she's considered a threat to the Left and the establishment—because it promotes self-reliance and faith over government dependence.
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