Retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army Allen West (Screenshot)
Perhaps y’all have heard this saying before: “Sometimes even a blind squirrel can find an acorn.” I speak in reference to the current kerfluffle created by President Trump and one of his tweets about Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings and portions of his congressional district in Baltimore. This may anger folks, but so be it. I do not believe that President Trump had any idea of what he would unleash. What President Trump had stumbled upon is the dirty secret of the progressive, socialist left for the past half century. There have been many of us who have addressed this issue, but for all these years, the Republican Party has not paid it any attention.
I first used the reference of the 21st Century economic plantation back in 2012 while a member of Congress. Saying such drove the progressive, socialist left abjectly apoplectic. Having been someone born and raised in an inner-city community, Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, which also produced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., I have seen this plight worsen over the years. I have watched the insidious Republican “outreach” efforts into the minority communities fail. The reason is simple; outreach has no meaning. It is simply a feel-good effort, but produces no lasting relationships.
Why?
Because the focus has not been on real engagement and policy inclusion based upon common principles, values. There has been a dismissive attitude in understanding the gaps and flaws in the progressive, socialist ideology and how it is antithetical to the core, fundamental, values of the inner city, black community. Finally, a Republican, President Trump, tripped over the golden acorn, perhaps blindly so, and found the immense nugget of truth for which the left has no defense.
The left has purposefully, and intentionally, destroyed the black community with their policies of welfare and dependency … all for the purpose of electoral gain. And they have deployed black representatives and groups to perpetuate what they have created. Remember the response of the Congressional Black Caucus when President Trump announced in his first State of the Union address in 2018 the incredible unemployment numbers for the black community – stoic faces. No accolades from the NAACP, nor the National Urban League that I could see, as they have become the overseers on this new 21st Century economic plantation.
And this revelation has resulted in the typical, now ineffective, response of decrying “racism.” And folks, therefore, the greatest enemy to progressive socialists are minority conservatives.
Consider the evidence before us for examination and analysis, and you can only surmise one thing – that the left has produced generations of victims. And ask yourself, why has the Republican Party, the party of the emancipation of blacks, not had the courage or resolve to make this case?
When I was born, back in 1961, it was a rarity to see a black household without both a mom and dad in the home. As a matter of fact, there were those of us who would make it proudly known that our parents owned their homes, and we did not reside in government housing. Being on government subsistence was an abhorrent condition. Back then you had middle to high 70 percent of black households with mothers and fathers, but today that number is hovering around 23-24 percent. It does not take an Einstein to figure this out. Many of us who reside near urban centers see it. And this consequence is a direct result of President Lyndon Johnson’s [Un]Great Society policies. Yes, Johnson, a well-known racist who sought to use the Civil Rights Act for political leverage, implemented a policy of the government giving checks to women who had children out of wedlock. The caveat was that the woman could not have a man in the home. Now, having a baby in the black community is not so much about family, but rather about getting a government check … and rewarding irresponsibility. Even NY Liberal Democrat Senator, Daniel Patrick Monyihan, was a strong critic.
Then there is evidence that suggests that Planned Parenthood clinics
target minority communities, mainly latino and
black populations. And to realize that the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a white supremacist, racist, and spoke at Ku Klux Klan rallies, a domestic terrorist organization. We are
now approaching the genocidal number of 20,000,000 black babies murdered in the womb since 1973’s
Roe v. Wade decision. But when did you last hear any black member of Congress address this issue? And we know how impactful as a political organization Planned Parenthood is, to the tune of receiving $563.78M of U.S. taxpayer funding as of the
2017-18 Planned Parenthood annual report.
You are also seeing the erosion of quality education opportunities in the inner-city communities. And yes, any and all efforts for school choice, vouchers, are defeated by these gatekeepers, so called black leaders. This is a result of the power and impact of the teacher’s unions, AFT/NEA, who are major supporters of the Democratic Party. Case in point, back in April 2009, it was the so called “first black president” Barack Hussein Obama, whose
budget proposals would phase out the D.C. school voucher program. Now, was that racist? I think so because it was a move to deny deserving young minority children an opportunity to rise above and become victors, not victims. It was also an example of black, progressive socialist elitism, as Obama’s daughters went off to the prestigious Sidwell Friends School in D.C., while other kids who looked like them were sent away.
Rep. Elijah Cummings once referred to Baltimore as a “
drug infested” city. Senator Bernie Sanders compared Baltimore, the third most dangerous city in America, to a
third world country in 2015. Was that also a racist statement? Of course not, not for the progressive, socialist left who have replicated these failures across America in urban centers.
This is the greatest opportunity going forward for the Republican Party. They should simply compare their history with that of the Democrats. They should line up their policies side by side with the left. They should go into the inner cities and stay, and put the left on defense because they cannot defend these abhorrent policies, past, present, and future.
The acorn has been found; it is like Achilles’ heel. The question is whether the GOP will go on the offensive, or will they cower when called a name? Just remember, on Juneteenth this year, a celebration of emancipation here in Texas, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee was leading the charge as the Democrats held hearings on reparations. The party of slavery and physical bondage is today, the party of economic enslavement and bondage.
Allen West is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. Mr. West is a Senior Fellow at the Media Research Center to support its mission to expose and neutralize liberal media bias. Mr. West also writes daily commentary on his personal website theoldschoolpatriot.com.