Retired National Football League star Burgess Owens, a Super Bowl champion with the Oakland Raiders, has urged African-Americans not to vote for Barack Obama simply on the basis of race.
Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty
In his newly published e-book, “It’s All About Team: Exposing the Black Talented Tenth,” Owens recounts how he grew up as a liberal Democrat and supported Jimmy Carter.
...“We are going to have to have black ministers stand up once again,” he said. “Unfortunately, I have been a little disappointed that we have issues out there like traditional marriage, abortion, school education, and we have so much silence from the black community, from black preachers, because they understand first hand the impact of all that. We can no longer support those who are against the faith.”
... “There is still a desire, by most within the black community, to recapture for their children the ideals of a traditional family where moms and dads commit to each other and to their children through the lifelong bonds of marriage,” Owens concludes. “We can be the kind of example as the black middle class was for decades to give encouragement to others who follow.”
15 Comments
Great article!!!
As always, impressed by how informed you guys are.
You gotta keep forging ahead
People in this day have lost their minds I think.
Everyone is so up in arms over equality.
Obviously they are forgetting tradition & faith.
Please don't stop spreading your messages around!!
Lots of people listen even if they don't say so.
Even if they are too afraid to speak out.
Really, Owens is a hero. People expect him not to.
Usually stereotypes win but not here!!!
Lots of love for him
Eventually everyone finds their voice....
A Democratic legislator in Maryland wrote to an NFL team owner on official government letterhead, trying to get him to ORDER one of his players to shut up about same-sex marriage! Hasn't he ever heard of the First Amendment?
NOM should do an article about it.
What an inspiring article. Lots of great parts, especially when Burgess talks about the "miraculous resurrection of the proud, responsible, visionary black father."
I love to see this kind of talk within the Black community, and I hope to hear more of it. And not just the usual Father's Day commentaries in Black magazines, etc., but a loud and unified voice advocating for ways to rebuild the Black family.
"Liberalism has done a great job, they have done a fantastic job of destroying the family..."
“There is still a desire, by most within the black community, to recapture for their children the ideals
of a traditional family where moms and dads commit to each other and to their children through the lifelong bonds of marriage...”
Excellent!
You might want to read this in the name of balanced reporting
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kluwe/an-open-letter-to-emmett-burns_b_1866216.html
To number 5, Herb:
I read your link. You described it as "balanced reporting." That link was not reporting but rather an opinion piece filled with lots of name-calling and anger and hatred.
Herb, You think that is balanced reporting? That letter, written to a congressman, is filled with obscene language and name calling. I'm not sure it's fair to compare it with Owen's book. The tone and content are polar opposites, even if the same topic area.
Honestly, I have a deep respect for Owens for writing this. He is calling for a renewal of marriage and family. Voices too long made silent. Awesome.
Thank You Owen for being a voice of reason... we need to take back our traditional values whether we are black or white... How about all of of being one race and we call it Human... which is the race all of us belong to anyway...God Bless You... stay strong...
Thank you Mr. Owens.
I'm always amazed to see African Americans suggesting same-sex marriage is the biggest threat of the modern world when the other long-standing challenges the African American community faces are so much more serious and completely unrelated to same-sex marriage: teen pregnancy, out-of-wedlock births, drug use, crime, poverty, poor nutrition, poor health care, crummy schools and poor education in general, and high incarceration rates, just to name a few. I'm all for supporting and strengthening traditional marriage (and I know of nobody who opposes such a thing!) but you don't support or strengthen your own family by attacking somebody else's.
@Herb: Imagine Kluwe's vulgar tirade being directed at a supporter of gay "marriage" and then tell me again just how wonderful and tolerant it was.
Family: mother, father, children; no empty chairs at the dinner table.
@Hear This,
I'd definitely like to know more about that story and to see NOM cover it. I hope the website administrator took note.
Glad to see a host of these former NFL players now on our team. We all root for different NFL teams as mine is the Patriots but we are all on the same team when it comes to marriage.
Sadly the owner of the Patriots went to speak at a homosexual function.
John B, many of the problems you mention are the result of the breakdown of traditional marriage in minority communities. Marriage is mostly about the responsibility that a man and woman united in a sexual union have because of the potential to produce children. Marriage commits them to providing a loving, stable environment within which to raise the children that may come from their union. It's a matter of biology and sociology . The are fewer school dropouts, teen pregnancies, drug users among children who are raised in loving families with their biological parents. This makes a huge difference to our society. These responsibilities are not an inherent part of other relationships, no matter how good or loving one considers them to be. The analogies that come to mind for me are 1) a man saying he is discriminated against because he feels he has a right to be a mother. Now a court could, I suppose, state that he has that right, but wouldn't that defy common sense? He just isn't equipped by nature to be a mother. 2) two people work for the same company the same number of hours per week. One is a maintenance person, the other is the CEO. Using the logic of SSM, it would be wrong for them to be paid different wages because it would be discriminatory