Exit stage right

Pasadena’s Major Williams to speak at Blexit rally in LA Sunday to encourage African Americans and Latinos to leave the Democratic Party

By Justin Chapman, Pasadena Weekly, 1/17/2019

Pasadena resident and prospective mayoral candidate Major Williams will be a featured speaker at a rally Sunday aimed at convincing African Americans and Latinos to leave the Democratic Party.

Williams, 41, is a Northwest Pasadena resident who plans to run for mayor in 2020. He identifies as an independent Republican.

The “Blexit” movement, which encourages black people to get off the “liberal plantation,” was created in October by Candace Owens, a conservative commentator, director of communications at the conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA and an African-American supporter of President Trump. In October, Owens publicly apologized to rapper Kanye West after falsely stating that the musician designed Blexit T-shirts, shortly after an eccentric West met with Trump in the Oval Office and said wearing the red “Make America Great Again” hat makes him feel like Superman.

The Blexit “We the Free” rally will be held from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at the Globe Theatre, 740 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, just one day before Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Other speakers include Owens, Anna Paulina, Graham Allen, Will Witt, Brandon Tatum, David Harris, Jr., Rob Smith, Jr., and others.

“It is time for a B L E X I T. A Black AND Latino exit from the liberal ideology which has poisoned our respective communities,” reads the event webpage. “On January 20th, let’s come together to discuss politics, the media’s role in brainwashing us against our own interests, PLUS how we can fully engage in spreading conservative principles into our communities.”

Williams wrote in an email that at the Blexit rally, he plans to “speak about my perspective on today’s climate in politics. I will be expressing my views on the economic struggles of black people. I will share my experiences of teaching myself how to self fund my dreams, goals, and ideas without waiting around for others approval.”

A native of Dallas, Texas, Williams moved to California in 2001. His Pasadena mayoral platform includes addressing homelessness, unemployment, affordable housing, public education, rent control, police and community relations, and economic empowerment. He is also developing a crowdfunding and venture capital investment fund to which Pasadena residents would contribute monthly to help pay for municipal services.

“I will be encouraging African Americans and whomever else in attendance [at Sunday’s rally] to think freely, to do their homework and to Blexit the Democrat party if the Democrats aren’t willing to earn their vote,” Williams wrote.