Beckwith: Braun “agrees with me in principle” on Three-Fifth’s Compromise comments
Indiana Lt. Governor says Black state senator “wouldn’t even be where [she’s] at today had it not been for great moves like the Three-Fifths Compromise”
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith defended his recent remarks on the Three-Fifths Compromise during a Friday morning interview on WOWO radio, doubling down on claims that the agreement was “a great move” by America’s founders and suggesting that Gov. Mike Braun privately agrees with him.
(Full audio and transcript below.)
Beckwith’s comments, made in a social media video on April 24, sparked swift backlash from faith leaders and civil rights groups, including the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, who called the remarks “an affront to human dignity” and urged Braun to publicly denounce them.
The 18th-century compromise counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person when calculating representation in Congress — a move that bolstered the political power of slaveholding states.
On WOWO’s Fort Wayne’s Morning News, host Kayla Blakeslee asked Beckwith if he had discussed the controversy with Braun, who earlier this week said, “I definitely wouldn’t have used that characterization, and I don’t like it.”
Beckwith said he and Braun had lunch recently but did not discuss the controversy.
“I think he sometimes just kind of chuckles and sort of smiles whenever I’m out there,” Beckwith said. “He agrees with me in principle… He knows that that’s the truth.”
The lieutenant governor, who is also a pastor in Noblesville, framed his remarks as a necessary pushback against “woke lies” he says are pervasive in education and government.
He said his video was prompted by a Black state senator who referenced the Three-Fifths Compromise during floor debate over Senate Bill 289, which limits mandatory DEI and implicit bias trainings in public institutions.
“She was just saying, you know, how she as a Black woman was treated so poorly at the founding of our nation,” Beckwith said.
“Senators like her wouldn’t even be where they’re at today had it not been for great moves like the Three-Fifths Compromise.”
Beckwith claimed the compromise actually curtailed the influence of slaveholding states by 40% and helped “chip away at the evils of slavery.”
Historians broadly reject that interpretation, noting that the compromise increased slave states’ representation in Congress without granting enslaved people any rights or protections — a structural advantage that made efforts to abolish slavery more difficult.
Despite that, Beckwith said he stood by every word he uttered in the video.
“I said what I said, I believe what I said,” he told Blakeslee. “It’s the truth, and I’m not backing down.”
He also likened his cultural critique to a medical diagnosis.
“It’s kind of like a doctor telling a cancer patient he has cancer,” Beckwith said. “It’s not like anybody gets joy out of that, but it needs to be said. And we’ve got a cancer in our culture right now. It’s called woke-ism.”
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Kayla Blakeslee: [Micah], you posted this video on social media about the Three-Fifths Compromise saying, and I quote, “This was a great move by the north to make sure that slavery would be eradicated in our nation. It actually limited the number of pro-slave representatives in Congress by 40%.”
The video was about a minute and a half. Were you surprised by the immediate backlash?
Micah Beckwith: I don't know if I was surprised. I understand that the woke lies have infested our culture so much that when you speak the truth like I did that yeah, you're gonna get push back.
But the reason I did it was because there was a state senator that got up and she was just saying, you know, how she as a black woman was treated so poorly at the founding of our nation. She would've only been worth three-fifths of a person.
Which is not the truth. That's not what that was about. It was “a beautiful liberty document” is what Frederick Douglas called the Constitution with the Three-Fifths Compromise in it because the North strategically began chipping away at the evils of slavery.
And the reason we have CRT DEI woke nonsense in our schools is because whenever the Left today gets up and says, “America’s racist, America’s inherently evil because our founders had slaves and slavery, slavery, slavery.”
They are undermining the sacrifice of a lot of really great godly men who knew the evils of slavery and started taking the steps to eradicate it from our nation.
That’s why we're a great nation. And senators like her wouldn’t even be where they're at today had it not been for great moves like the Three-Fifths Compromise.
I said what I said, I believe what I said. It’s the truth and I’m not, I’m not backing down.
Kayla Blakeslee: The governor [Mike Braun] of course was asked about all of this, Micah, and he said, and I quote, “I definitely I wouldn't have used that characterization and I don’t like it.”
So has there been a conversation between you and the governor about this?
Micah Beckwith: No, not specifically about this. I mean, we had lunch the other day and, you know, this didn’t really come up.
I think he sometimes just kind of chuckles and sort of smiles whenever I’m out there and I think we make a good team because, you know, he agrees with me in principle.
It's not like he’s gonna go back and argue, you know, like, “Well, that’s not, that’s not what happened.” No. He knows that that’s the truth.
He does a good job of putting policy in place to eradicate the things like DEI or CRT.
What I’m doing is addressing the cultural lies, right?
And that’s what I’m good at. I will go after the lies and the culture.
You gotta be able to fight inside of 200 West Washington, which is our capital, and you gotta be able to fight outside of 200 West Washington.
Kayla Blakeslee: Mm-hmm.
Micah Beckwith: And that’s what I do. I bring the fight to these indoctrinating woke professors and these woke leaders that are trying to destroy America’s integrity.
And these men of our founding sacrificed so much so that we can have what we have today.
And I take offense when I hear state senators or state reps get up and vilify their character. So that’s why I did the video and I know Governor Braun, he said he didn’t like it. Well, yes, nobody likes it. It’s a hard truth.
Nobody likes to address the lies that have been festering for 50, 60 years in our culture. And so of course he’s not gonna like it.
It’s kinda like a doctor telling a cancer patient he has cancer. The doctor doesn’t like to say that. It's not like anybody gets joy out of that, but it needs to be said.
And we’ve got a cancer in our culture right now. It’s called woke-ism. Uh, DEI, it's CRT.
It’s destroying the integrity of our Constitution that did give liberty and equality to everybody.
It took hundreds of years to get there, but we got there because of great moves, like the three fifth compromise that our founders put in place.
Micah Beckwith is a disgrace. The fact he was voted into office by my fellow Hoosiers is unbelievably disappointing.