During Wednesday's House Committee hearing "Election Subversion: A Growing Threat to Electoral Integrity," Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) told committee members he would "like to set the record straight" on what actual election subversion and Jim Crow laws looked like, sharing examples from his own past.
"At the age of 12, my father allowed me to participate in a demonstration with Florida A&M college students in front of the segregated Florida State Theatre, which because of our color, we could not enter. I was the youngest participant there," said Owens, adding that many decades later, he learned that his father had parked across the street to make sure Owens was safe.
"In the 7th grade my school never received new books. Instead, we received used, old books from the all-white school across town," Owens said.
"At service stations, there were white men only restrooms, white women only restrooms, and one filthy restroom in the back of the station for black Americans as stated as 'colored,'" he continued.
Owens added that "subversive laws like poll tax, property tests, literacy tests, violence and intimidation at the polls made it nearly impossible for black Americans to vote."
Owens slammed Democrats outrage against requiring identification to vote, stating that the insinuation that black people are not "smart enough" to get an idea is offensive and racist.
"The section of the state law seeking voter integrity that has brought so much outrage from the left, simply requires any person, regardless of race, [inaudible] color applying for an out-of-state ballot to include evidence of a government-issued ID on their application," said Owens, who adds that there are alternative forms of identification like utility bills that a person can provide.
"By the way, 97 percent of Georgia voters… includes black Americans, already have government issued ID," he added.
"What I find offensive is the narrative from the left that black people are not smart enough, not educated enough, and not desirous enough for independence to do what every other culture and race does in this country – get an ID," Owens said, rebuking House Democrats.
True racism, Owens said, is "the soft bigotry of low expectations."
"President Biden said of the Georgia law 'This is Jim Crow on steroids.' With all due respect, Mr. President, you know better," Owens stated. "It is disgusting and offensive to compare the actual voter suppression and violence of the era that we grew up in with a state law that only asks people to show their id. This is the type of fear-mongering I expected in the 1960s, not today."
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