AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster I have tried to forge my own path in this business and respect the voices of other black commentators even when they diverge from my own opinions. Sadly, I’ve not been allowed to follow this path. The public and what my colleague Jeff Charles calls “Conservative, Inc.” have made it nearly impossible for me to ignore certain pundits who make my job harder every day. I can no longer stay silent, even in the face of the slings and arrows I know I’ll get for expressing myself here. Candace Owens is a problem. I first became aware of Candace Owens when someone shared a video from her old YouTube channel. She was excoriating celebrity hypocrisy. It made me laugh. I shared it also, happy to welcome another black, female conservative voice to the fray. The more the merrier! She never crossed my mind again until Kanye West dropped the MOAB on Twitter (a testament to his public influence even as some people still call him a sell-out). With one tweet, he blew up Candace’s spot overnight. He agreed to meet with her and President Trump and the rest is social media history. In one day, Candace went from obscure TPUSA spokeswoman to the definitive representation of black conservatism.