Allen West

                I chose Allen West as my very important person (VIP) this week.  He completed a 22-year military career and then entered politics.  As a Republican, he ran for U.S. Representative in Florida’s 22^nd congressional district but lost against the Democrat incumbent in 2008.   He ran against the incumbent against in 2010 and won the seat.  He took office on January 3, 2011, as the first black Republican Congressman from Florida since 1876.  He is a former United States Congressman as well as a current contributor for Fox News and PJ Media.  While a member of Congress, he served on the Armed Services and Small Business Committees and was a member of the Tea Party Caucus.  He lost his bid for re-election in 2012.

I consider him to be a VIP because of his willingness to stand on conservative principles and to stand with members of the Tea Party.  He is one of a growing number of black conservatives who encourages other members of his race to get off the government plantation.  He has common sense and does not flinch when confronted by liberals/progressives.  We need more people like him in leadership and should keep our eyes on him.  He is a staunch opponent of the policies of Barack Obama, and he says the things that need to be said.

                “My older brother was a Vietnam Marine wounded in a shelling at Khe Sanh.  I find it perplexing and disturbing that our current Commander-in-Chief would refer to Ho Chi Minh as being `inspired’ by our American founders.  The individuals who inspired Ho were Karl Marx and Josef Stalin.  I shudder to think President Obama regards them as our founders.  Regardless, an apology is due to our men and women who served in the Vietnam War.  I would have taken a walk with the new Vietnamese president over to the Vietnam War Memorial and made him see every name on that wall.”

                West criticized Obama for inserting himself in the Trayvon Martin murder and making the case a “personal experience.”  Obama stressed that Martin could have been him 35 years ago and added that African Americans should view the shooting of Martin “through a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away.”  West took exception to the comments:  “I believe it comes back to being a respectful young man and maybe that’s something that was missing out of President Obama and Trayvon Martin’s life.  But to try to play this and try to make it a personal experience, this was just absolutely horrific.”

                “I am a black male who grew up in the inner city of Atlanta and no one ever followed me in a mall.  I don’t recall any doors clicking when I crossed the street.  And I never had anyone clutching their handbag when I got on an elevator.  I guess having two awesome parents who taught me to be a respectful young man paid dividends.”

                West does not shy away from taking on Republicans either.  He accused his fellow Republicans of engaging in a “cover-up” of the terrorist attacks on our facilities in Benghazi, Libya.  He obviously thought they should have supported a vote to form a special committee to investigate the attacks.

                West believes that young black men should be taught "real toughness.”  “Toughness is being pinned down by the enemy in a compound in Afghanistan, picking up a grenade thrown into that compound to protect your fellow paratroopers, and throwing it out only to have it explode as it leaves your hand – a now-prosthetic hand that I once shook.  Toughness is disobeying orders and charging toward the sound of guns to rescue fellow Marines pinned down by heavy enemy fire or State Department officials under attack.

                “Toughness is looking at your family and telling them you have to go and take your post on freedom’s rampart to safeguard liberty, not knowing if that is the last time you will see them.

                “We can develop real toughness by gathering a group of young, inner-city black men, giving them a map, having them load supplies and telling them they have a certain amount of hours to reach a shelter and prepare their food for the evening while also ensuring they secure their site….

                “When are we going to stop addressing the symptoms and treat the disease, the illness that afflicts the black community – the breakdown of families?  Members of the black community can be angry all they want, but Bill O’Reilly of Fox News was right….

                “The next generation in the black community needs less voices yelling and less chaos that reinforces the soft bigotry of low expectations.  It needs more role models who will expose them to the serene moments of reflection, responsibility, and respect.”