The Black Race and Self-Perception

Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Burgess Owens, former NFL star and author of Liberalism or How to Turn Good Men into Whiners, Weenies and Wimps.

 

“If you can define the self-perception of a race, you can define its future for generations.”- Burgess Owens

 

The visionary, industrious, Christian and segregated Black community of the early to mid 1960’s understood and embraced the importance of a positive self-perception. It was this same recognition that drove millions of young patriotic Black men throughout our nation’s history to be among the first to volunteer when our nation went to war. It was reflected in their actions on the field of battle—courage, patriotism, faith, tenacity and love for race, God and country.

It has been recorded throughout the annals of American history beginning with our nation’s first martyr—an ex-slave and free Black man Crispus Attucks—in its fight for Independence in 1770. Our history records, among its host of proud war veterans, over 5,000 Black men who fought as patriots during the Revolutionary War.

We read of the courageous march south to battle the Confederate Army by the All-Black, 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry. Unlike their white counterparts, they understood from the beginning that they would be offered NO quarter if captured alive.

The importance of projecting a positive self-perception was seen with the 332nd Fighting Group nicknamed "Hell Fighters" by their German enemy, who received France’s highest military honor, the Croix de Guerre, during WWII. My dad and uncles were among the 125,000 proud Black American volunteers who, throughout their entire lives, considered their decision to serve during WWII as their greatest honor.

RELATED: Former NFL Great Burgess Owens on How Democrats Breed Black Votes

Our past Black generations understood instinctively that they were fighting the battle of racism on two fronts:

The most obvious was their fight against the Democratic Party’s racist Jim Crow laws, intimidation by its terrorist arm, the KKK, and its demeaning messaging of abortion by Black and White Democratic eugenicists.

The second battle, fighting to maintain and grow its positive self-perception, was not as easily measured. In hindsight, we can see the initial success of their mission. It is portrayed in pictures like the one of educated, disciplined and intelligent young WWII Black Tuskegee Airmen whose tenacity and courage earned the respect of White B-17 Fortress pilots, whose lives they protected and saved.

It was the understanding of the power of perception that allowed the Martin Luther King Jr. generations to stay true to the strategy of non-violence, refusing to retaliate when every emotional instinct would justify them doing so. Its leaders would lead demonstrations and often be jailed wearing white shirts, black ties and jackets—all for the sake of perception.

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The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., arrested in Memphis, Tenn. wearing suit and tie.

They fought against negative racist stereotyping with their appearance, their command of the English language, their emotional discipline and their Judeo-Christian love that allowed them to forgive and move forward. They had faith in the American Promise that these actions would soften the hearts of our nation and defeat the hateful and demeaning perception assigned by the southern Democratic Party.

They were correct in their faith in the American people.

What exactly were racist stereotypes that they were fighting during that era? It was the portrayal of an inferior, dependent and monkey-linked race. It was a race projected as sloppy in appearance and dress, uneducated, inarticulate, incapable of critical thinking, easy to “herd” into groupthink, physically, emotional and sexually undisciplined, reckless breeders. But, boy, do they LOVE to sing and dance.

RELATED: Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Four-Part Series

This demeaning stereotype, once defeated by MLK’s generation, has reared is ugly head once again in the setting of BET (Black Entertainment TV), 100% owned and controlled by wealthy and powerful White Liberal/Socialist Democrats. Their three billion dollar purchase in 2001 gave Sumner Redstone and the Viacom Corp unfettered access to the urban Black community. They then proceeded for the next 15 years to fire-hose this community nationally with anti-White, anti-police, anti-American, anti-woman, anti-family liberal FILTH. It has resulted in the fermenting of hatred and distrust for police authority and a disdain for our American culture. As Viacom shines the light of unaddressed Black Misery as a political strategy, it has increased the dependency and loyalty of the Black urban community as a voting block for the Democratic Party. Predictably omitted are the facts that at the root of all Black misery, as far back as 70 years, are Anti-Black Democratic policies.

Within the BET website can be seen the dark and empathy-free heart of the White Socialist Democratic owners of BET, who have successfully re-established the racist stereotypes previously eradicated. The White racist perception of the Black race can be seen in BET’s featured star, a rapper that young urban fatherless boys will soon seek to emulate. It is the tattooed face and neck of a young man called “Young Thug.” With a tribal-like ring through his nose and inarticulate speech patterns, he has a continual presence on BET’s gossip page discussing his reckless breeding habits, accumulation of “baby mommas” and the babies who he refuses to support. His filthy language, filthy mind and disdain for commitment and respect for women is presented to our young Black girls and boys as normal—although the cowardly, wealthy White Wizard, hiding behind the curtain of Blackness, would never tolerate his presence around their family or living in their mixed neighborhood of Democratic elitists.

The 2016 White Liberal Democratic owners of BET have portrayed for 15 years a perception of Black Americans that remarkably mimics the racist Democratic-controlled south of the early to mid-1900’s—sloppy in appearance and dress, uneducated, inarticulate, incapable of critical thinking, easy to “herd” into groupthink, physically, emotional and sexually undisciplined, reckless breeders. But, boy, do they LOVE to sing and dance.

Within the website of Viacom, aka, BET is also seen the true cowardice and bullying of the White racist Wizard as they utilize a strategy proven effective in 1930’s by Margaret Sanger—The Negro Project. With the use of a Black front, they pay like-minded Socialist Black Americans to demean, attack and denigrate other Blacks who are deemed a threat to their plantation-like groupthink. Typically, these are articulate, educated, successful, Christian, patriotic and thoughtful Black Americans offering alternatives.

Ultimately the restoration of the Black community will rely on the delivery of this message by committed Black Conservative Americans. Other Americans can support this effort by helping to shed light on those who have purposely used misery and hopelessness to empower themselves and their party.

It is time we call Viacom CEO Phil Dauman, Sheri Redstone and the all-White Democratic Board of Viacom from behind the curtain of Blackness to explain their organizations decades-old strategy for fermenting the Marxist and racist hate group, Black Lives Matter. Every time a policemen is assassinated and another young Black American radicalized through their BET anti-police, anti-American website, this corporation and its leaders should be held accountable.

Only when the light and eyes of the American people are on these “Corporate Hate Breeders” will we be able to grant a level of safety to our police nationally and stem the divisive nature of the Democratic Party-driven Socialist/Marxist movement within our country.

Featured Image: (L to R) Rapper Young Thug, alternately known as No, My Name is Jeffery or Jeffery (Photo Credit: Black Entertainment Television); Members of the 332nd Fighter Group attending a briefing in Ramitelli, Italy, March, 1945. (Photo Credit: Toni Frissell Collection, Library of Congress)

Without civic action, America faces collapse

JEFF KOWALSKY / Contributor | Getty Images

Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

Samuel Corum / Stringer | Getty Images

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

PHILL MAGAKOE / Contributor | Getty Images

Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

Mark Wilson / Staff | Getty Images

Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

The critical difference: Rights from the Creator, not the state

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

John Greim / Contributor | Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.