RPT Chairman LTC Allen B. West (Ret.)

The Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations

Greetings everyone, and thanks so very much for your birthday wishes yesterday. Doggone hard to believe, 60 years of age. I do have to send a big-time shout-out to my birthday brother, Gary Galiano of Jupiter, Florida. He and I were born on the same day: February 7th of the same year, 1961. I have him beat by a few hours.

There is something else about the month of February, and that is, it’s Black History Month. Yes, I know, some of you are rolling your eyes, upset with the “Balkanization” of America. Just so you know, I refer to myself as an American Black man, not hyphenated. How interesting that I was born in this month, in 1961, in a Blacks-only hospital, in Atlanta, Georgia, Hughes-Spalding. So, I want to share with y’all my perspectives and insights about this Black History Month.

First of all, I just want to remind China Joe Biden that he does not get to define who I am based upon my political philosophy. Nope, I didn’t vote for ya Joe, and will never be subjugated to the soft bigotry of low expectations of the progressive socialist left. I remember when it was VP Joe Biden who made the insidious comment about “they gonna put y’all back in chains.” Y’all notice how these condescending white leftists always seem to acquire a southern vernacular and tone when addressing Blacks? My folks never spoke like that, and I certainly do not.

Therein lies the issue we need to address this Black History Month — and actually every month — the desire of these white progressive socialists to perpetuate the sense of a victim mentality upon the American Black community. Yes, it permeates leftist rhetoric.

Consider the “1619 Project” which the left is pushing, and seeking to indoctrinate our children to believe. It holds — falsely so — that America was established when the first slave ship arrived in 1619 on the shores of what would, 157 years later, be America, the Commonwealth of Virginia. This whole preposterous ideological endeavor seeks to castigate America’s founding based upon slavery. As a matter of fact, our new occupant of the White House has decided to end the “1776 Project” which is historically accurate in reinforcing the founding of our nation, by way of the Declaration of Independence.

Here is the interesting point, since this is Black History Month. If the left disregards the founding of America in 1776 and revises our history to an absurd founding in 1619 . . . then what do we say about Crispus Attucks?
Scratching your heads? Crispus Attucks was a free Black man who was one of those killed in the Boston Massacre. Yes, a free Black man, before 1776. Shocking.

The left needs Blacks to believe that they are still slaves, yes, even in 2021. The insidious notion that today, Blacks deserve reparations is beyond nonsensical. It is deliberately a part of the soft bigotry of low expectations.
It is the antithesis of the left’s messaging to have a 60-year-old American Black man, born in a Blacks-only hospital, who now leads the largest State Republican Party in America. As well, it is damaging to the left’s revisionist history agenda for the general public to ever know that the Republican Party of Texas was founded, on July 4th, 1867, in Houston Texas by 150 Black men, recently freed, just two years prior. It is not beneficial, as part of Black History Month, for the Democrats to have people know that the first black Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas was a Black businessman named Norris Wright Cuney from Galveston, in the late 1880s. We did a profile on Chairman Cuney last week.

You will never hear about the incredible life of one of America’s greatest educators and orators, and my philosophical mentor, Booker T. Washington, founder of Tuskegee Institute, now University. Washington’s principles were education, entrepreneurship, and self-reliance . . . not exactly progressive socialist principles. Washington was a young man born into slavery, yet rose to be an advisor to not just one, but two, US presidents at the turn of the 20th century. Instead, the left demonizes, disparages, and denigrates his legacy that stands with such venerable names as the “Tuskegee Airmen.”

Why?

It’s simple: the soft bigotry of low expectations would not have Blacks believe they can be victors, instead of victims. We should all be reading Washington’s autobiography “Up From Slavery,” not just this month, but always. It should be mandatory reading in all of our schools, yet I doubt the leftist controlled teacher’s union would allow such.

The soft bigotry of low expectations would not have Blacks believe they can be victors, instead of victims. #BlackHistoryMonth #BlackTwitter Click To Tweet

Instead, our children are getting a dose of Black Lives Matter, and their Marxist beliefs. Consider this: what does BLM and their Marxism have to do with the critical issues facing the Black community in America? BLM does not support the traditional nuclear family. After all, the policies of the racist Democrats decimated the Black family.

One of our Republican Party of Texas Legislative Priorities is ending the murder of preborn babies in the womb. Since Roe v. Wade in 1973, over 20 million Black babies have been murdered in the womb. There was a time in New York City that more black babies were murdered in the womb than born alive.

Since the “woke cancel culture” of the left is so into declaring everyone white supremacists, what about the one who founded Planned Parenthood? Yes, ol’ Margaret Sanger, the racist white supremacist who spoke at KKK (founded by the Democrat Party) rallies and referred to Blacks as “undesirables and human weeds.”

Yes, the hypocrisy is laughable, but the soft bigotry of low expectations is real.

Our Republican Party of Texas has school choice as one of our Legislative Priorities. That is personal for me since my parents decided to send me to a small Black Catholic school in our neighborhood, not the two public schools. My wife Angela and I made the same choice for our daughters. So, why can’t we enable those needing it the most, the ability to choose the best education for their children? Nah, the left, who once stood outside the doors of education, not allowing Blacks in, now stand inside and do not allow Blacks out.

The left, who once stood outside the doors of education, not allowing Blacks in, now stand inside and do not allow Blacks out. Click To Tweet


Constitutional Carry is another one of our RPT Legislative Priorities. How many of you know who Otis McDonald is? Well, he is one of my heroes, but you will not hear about him this, or any other, Black History Month. Mr. McDonald was an Army veteran who brought the case against the city of Chicago that made it all the way to the US Supreme Court, McDonald v. City of Chicago. His lawsuit? Well, he just wanted to be able to have a weapon in his home to defend himself.

Otis McDonald, an American Black man, won his case before the US Supreme Court, affirming that the Second Amendment applied to the state and local government . . . well, duh. 

The left, aka the Democrat Party, will never elevate these voices, these stories. That is why the documentary “Uncle Tom” is so important, because if this history, real Black history, is not told, what are the consequences? The soft bigotry of low expectations becomes the standard. Just imagine, the documentary “Uncle Tom” was made right here in the great state of Texas, by two young white fellas who could not understand why white leftists hate Black conservatives. So, they set out to tell the story of American Black conservatism.

We do not need “Critical Race Theory” or white progressive socialist revision of history to advance a present-day slave mentality, victimization, of the American Black community. If, in 60 years, a young man born in a Blacks-only hospital can rise to become a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, member of the US Congress, and Republican Party of Texas Chairman, what is the excuse? If Booker T. Washington could rise up to become one of the greatest thinkers and men this country has produced, what is the excuse? If a woman — like Texas’s very own Judge Earleigh Wiley — can become the first Black female District Attorney in Texas, what is the excuse?

Choose for yourselves today, much the same as Joshua stated in Joshua 24:15, whom you shall serve. Whether it be the gods of the soft bigotry of low expectations, victim, or the Creator God who endowed you with unalienable rights . . . Victor!

As for me and my house, we choose to be victors . . every day.

Steadfast and Loyal,

LTC Allen B. West (Ret.)
Chairman
Republican Party of Texas


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