yes or no are you a follower of QAnon
i'm i'm just like millions of people
here in our country
and then millions of people around the
world that
are are very much concerned about a deep
state
in our government and it's it's
something that you hear talked about
every day
i mean people talk about it from Rush
Limbaugh to Sean
Hannity you hear people even
commentators on the left talking about
corruption in our government and i'm i'm
one of those
ordinary people that i started watching
things
and and started seeing on the news
non-stop
Russian collusion Russian collusion but
yet there were other stories
that were were also easy to find um that
were showing that it wasn't true
and so you know i'm i'm just someone
that
i don't really like uh news or media
being so slanted
um you know a lot of our media in our in
our country is very left-leaning
and um i would rather the news just be
the news
and i've been very disappointed like
so many people that the the obama gate
has not been reported that the abuse
the spying that happened with carter
page george
papadopoulos the unmasking of general
flynn
and how much he's been through in his
family
the non-stop russian collusion
that has just been force-fed to the
american people on the news
and um there's just a lot of people like
me that got really tired of that
and so it's easy to look at other
sources um
but i'll tell you what you know i've
been i've been trying to explain this to
people
the only person that i truly believe in
that i've never met
in in my life but i but i know him very
well and that's jesus
and i'm a big believer there and you
know Jesus
is my savior and i'm a believer in god
and um
that's the one source that i look to for
truth yeah i really didn't get a yes or
no there i did hear a lot of interesting
things and and that and that
in the video you say quote q as a
patriot
do you believe that is that what you
believe i've only ever seen
patriotic sentiment coming out of
that source and other sources uh you
know there's a lot of censorship
unfortunately from big tech on social
media
and this is the type of censorship that
americans are so tired of
and that is a particular source that
gets censored tremendously i think
Twitter
has just announced recently last week
that it'll be removing
anyone that associates himself with with
qanon
but yet there's never been any dangerous
rhetoric uh
coming out of of people like that but
we've seen
a lot of violence coming out of sources
like Antifa
BLM um we also see on the twitter
platform we see
terrorists from foreign countries uh you
know we see
every kind of threat possible we've seen
threats to president
trump's life even a couple years ago
barron trump being
being threatened that he should be
thrown in a cage with pedophiles
but yet big tech censorship wants to
remove people
that just talk about loving their
country and just talk about wanting to
see justice
for real crimes that have actually
happened and have been revealed
a lot through the house judiciary
committee hearings
and and it's very important um i don't
to me
it doesn't matter what political party
it is but if we have corrupt people
in our government that are leading and
holding powerful positions
they need to be held accountable and um
these things are real issues and they
matter a lot to people unfortunately i
didn't get an interview request from
Politico and CNN and all these people
that have attacked me and labeled me
and you know i think that's unfortunate
well we're giving you the space today to
tell us what you believe and and i think
that's important for
if you're going to ask voters for their
vote they need to understand what you
believe
and um and so on that note
there are other comments that you've
made that
we all know about you've lost some
support among
endorsements from republican leaders you
know steve scalise
called some of the things that you said
disgusting i believe is the word
that he used um i think we know the the
the
statements we're talking about racially
you know insensitive
statements um do you regret saying those
things do you
do you have anything to say to people
who may have heard what you said because
those videos are out there too
who may have been hurt by what you said
you have do you have any
regrets saying those things um do you
do you want to like do you mean like do
i regret saying that i'm against radical
Islam no i don't regret saying i'm
against radical Islam it's a threat to
our country and it's a threat all over
the world
do i regret saying that i don't believe
people
that are followers of sharia law and
sharia law is a very extremist
um extremist form and if people truly
follow
Sharia law these are the people that you
know declared jihad and they're
they these are people like in iran that
chant death
to america death to israel um i don't
believe that people that truly subscribe
to sharia law
can hold a position in our government
because it is completely
it's not aligned with our constitution
because sharia law
says that they can't believe in anything
else about you know
above sharia law they have to follow
Sharia law which treats women
not equal it puts women much further
down under men
it says that non-believers people that
aren't believers
in islam have to be taxed and treated
differently
and that's not how our government is set
up so no
i don't regret saying those things and
those aren't racially
insensitive those are anti-radical islam
and and that type of um extremism
and religion is against our government
and against our american beliefs
and against against many people in our
country
and this isn't something that's radical
for me to say this is how most americans
feel
and so when i talk have these
conversations with voters every day
they agree with me 100 and they're
thankful that i'm saying them
because people are tired really tired of
political political correctness and
government
and you know people are already ready to
have people in congress that are
actually going to fight for the american
people
put America first put our constitution
first
protect our freedoms and and not bow
down to the rest of the world
um or or something that you know may be
considered insensitive as far as steve
scalise this is the same man that voted
against Martin Luther King's day he
voted against it
so i'm not sure how he can
you know put me down and call me that
as far as there was i think i was
accused of
being oh i was in a picture with some
you know i take hundreds and hundreds of
pictures
i'm not kidding you i don't know how
many pictures i've taken with people
and a lot of the time there's someone
that just came up and said hey can i
take a picture with you
well it just so happened i was in a
group picture with
a man that i do not even know i had have
never
met him but he came to an event that he
came out of his district and came into
our district
to an event um so it wasn't his event
and
um was in a picture with me and then all
of a sudden
cnn and politico and all the fake news
media and the Atlanta Journal
Constitution painted me with him
and his beliefs and i i don't have
anything to do with the guy
i i don't and i have never had any
problems or accusations like Politico
and CNN have launched at me
in my personal life in my work life and
my church life
and with any of the you know friends
that know me so
these aren't issues um but this is fake
news and it's unfortunate that that
exists
you said this in the video that i saw
the generations of black and hispanic
men
do you want to know what holds them down
gangs
being in gangs dealing drugs that's what
holds them down
yeah i just saw a video it's funny you
brought this up you know colonel west
was actually talking about the same
issue and
um gangs and drugs are are a
massive problem and um unfortunately
they exist in inner cities and
it's unfortunately that it that will
hold you back in your life if you join a
gang
and you're on drugs i mean it could be
me or you it doesn't matter what your
skin color is
but unfortunately that will really hurt
you in your life
and cause you a lot of problems now
let's be clear here we have covered uh
gang violence in chattanooga through the
years i don't think anyone
is is is saying that gang violence and
these things
aren't issues but the idea that that is
solely an issue
that that there is hope that's that's uh
in your words holding them down
uh really doesn't look at the entire
picture here have you talked to
uh black men hispanic men in your
district
about what they what they perceive
are their challenges
yes as a matter of fact so i own a
commercial construction company we do
work all over the southeast
approximately 40 percent of the work we
do is
in you know low-income housing inner
cities
and so i'm very familiar i don't live in
chattanooga i don't live in tennessee
i live in georgia i've lived here all my
life but we do do work all over the
southeast
so we have done amazing work rebuilding
these communities
we do school supply drives backpack
drives
we have built daycare centers after
school centers donated
laptops to these communities we've
worked hand in hand with people
and you know this isn't a racial
statement to say that gangs and drugs
hold people down
and it's not a racial statement to say
that
it's unfortunate that black population
and hispanic population have been
plagued with these issues
and that's not a racial statement that's
a factual statement
haven't you said also that racism
doesn't exist isn't there a video out
there
showing you say that there's a video
of a woman that came and was yelling at
yelling at me and attacking me
at a um it was a gop event yes
so there here's what i was saying and
you only
probably saw a clip of that just like
you saw clips of these other videos
so sure i'd be happy to you know god
created us
all equal think thankfully and our
constitution affirms that and
we live this is the greatest country in
the world where no matter what color you
are no matter what um place in life you
start out
you can become something successful you
can
and it's incredible america is the
greatest opportunities
me as a woman i feel like i'm one of the
most blessed women in the world
i've been a successful business owner i
have a college degree i graduated with a
bachelor's degree in business from the
university of georgia
you know same as same as men i'm able to
walk equally
i'm now a leading candidate for congress
in this runoff and i'm i'm proud to be a
mom
who's been able to raise my children and
raise them in my in my christian faith
and that's equality you see that's
equality
and america offers that to every single
person
and we our country went through an
incredible time in the civil rights
movement and those leaders that did that
work
they did something incredible and we
just lost john lewis uh last week
so he was one of the giants in the
movement but yes here in america you
know what racism is
it's hate within someone's heart and
it's unfortunate that exists um
it can go any direction and it's sad but
here in america it doesn't have to exist
unless someone chooses that
that's not something that i choose in my
life um i don't
ever have those problems in my daily
life i never have
and so america is a place of equality
where racism doesn't have to exist and
that's what i was trying to say to that
woman
while she was yelling at me the whole
black lives matter
and they don't care about black lives
they only care about politicizing whose
black lives they think matter
if they cared about black lives they
would care about the millions of black
babies that are aborted
they would care about black police
officers lives they would care about
black on black crime
which is very tragic and they would care
about uh there was a man a trump
supporter
that was gunned down in the streets
because he was holding a trump sign
and he was a black man and you know so
there's
those are the really sad issues that are
existing and i don't
believe in here in america that anyone's
um
identity should define them because like
i said
our constitution declares we we're we're
equal it confirms
how god created us and and that's why i
say
america is the greatest country in the
world it's the land of opportunity
where anyone can achieve no matter what
and
i think that's a message that you how
can you argue with that i don't think
anyone
can argue with that but you do
understand there are people in this
country
who have not had an equal footing have
not had the same opportunities as
everyone else
we heard a story yesterday alvin jackson
lives in cleveland tennessee he
grew up in mcminn county during
segregation right
um he told me stories of of couldn't go
inside a restaurant and sit down and eat
he had gets food eaten parking lot
right right that's something that people
who are living
in this country right now went through
and you have to acknowledge
that um that affected them
um that that's a generational historic
thing that happened in our country
of people who are still here that
affected them in a profound
way absolutely this man this man again
after that 68 was was drafted into the
vietnam war
went over there which we know vietnam
drafted disproportionately if you were
lower income and you got a draft notice
you were much more likely to go
um as opposed to other people in our
society um
served our country now he's fighting
cancer from agent orange exposure right
so so there are things in our country
right the fact there were
more than a million african-americans
who served in world war ii who didn't
have access to the gi bill
when white soldiers had access
the federal housing administration so
many things in our country who
that have kept
african-americans from building
generational wealth that that has that
are still
issues in our country i mean you
understand that right
absolutely i was just talking about that
i was just saying
to you that thankfully in the civil
rights movement
these giants stepped forward and they
were so brave and we've seen so much
changes since then so
the issues you're speaking of i was born
in 1974
so i don't know when you were born but
but most of that happened
before i was born and and i'm thinking i
can't see your face so
i'm i'm sure that was before you were
born as well
we're about a year apart in age so we're
right here together yeah
okay well i you know i'm so proud of our
country
for coming through those times and and
you're right
that's you're right there were horrible
disadvantages
that is that is a fact and no one can
deny that
i my dad was drafted he was one of those
guys that was drafted
and um went to vietnam also
the veterans group that i i see almost
every single month
they're combat veterans vietnam veterans
and they suffer
tremendous health consequences from
agent orange
also and that's not a skin color issue
that's just a
terrible thing that happened to so many
of them in that war
and no you're right and you know here's
the deal
there there's circumstances in life that
make life really hard and and that is
that's a fact of living
but what i'm grateful for is the fact
that we've worked
so hard to make equality
a real thing and so ben carson ben
carson is a great example
dr ben carson who ran for president
during
during 2015 in the primary and now he's
the director of hud
and he does an amazing job you know he
was
he was raised i believe by a single mom
and they were
they he grew up on welfare and and grew
up in very poor circumstances
in education and is an africa
african-american man
um and he's gone on to be an incredible
brain surgeon and now look
look at his achievements and so
yes it's it's they're very difficult
circumstances
but it can be that way across the board
for anyone
and america is the only country on
on this planet i fully believe it where
we have the opportunities and we have
the freedoms to overcome those things
and it takes hard work
and so like i said i believe racism
exists within people's hearts and it's
hate
and that that is something that it
doesn't really always fall into being a
a white issue or a black issue it can
fall into any race and and any religion
um in any people group and and that's
but it's defined by people hating
one another based on an identity that's
not something that that
i have a have an issue with and that's
not something that most people i know
have an issue with uh thankfully and and
i'm proud of our country for
working to overcome it
