** Media Availability **

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 11, 2022

CONTACT: Tracey Miller, 202-660-1628, Tracey.Miller@theacru.org

Media Availability: Lt. Col. Allen West and Lori Roman, President, ACRU

Race and American Exceptionalism

Naples, FL — In a new OPED for American Constitutional Rights Union, Executive Director Lt. Col. Allen West writes, “This past Thursday evening at the University of Buffalo (UB), I was invited by the Young America’s Foundation Chapter at UB to deliver a presentation on “Race and American Exceptionalism.”  Before I even arrived, the nature of my visit was made controversial when students on the campus ripped down flyers and even conducted a campus walking protest. Therefore, I knew this would be quite a hostile environment. The question I have is, why?”

West continues to question why such a speaking event was so controversial.

“What is controversial and upsetting about a black man who rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army and commanded hundreds of troops in combat? Especially knowing that his Dad, born in 1920, was a World War II Army Corporal who served in a segregated Army. One would think that to be a story of American exceptionalism.”

After one lady, introducing herself as the President of the UB Black Student Union, stepped forward and referred to [West] as an embarrassment, he pondered what it was that so triggered these misguided students?

“The answer was simple, a hatred within themselves, for themselves. They seek to be embraced as perpetual victims, never to be a victor. They cast aside the achievements of those who do not gladly welcome their delusion. If I had come before them and spoke against America, they would have been pleased. Unfortunately for them, I took an oath to the embodiment of our Constitutional Republic, the US Constitution. Sadly for them, I am not seeking to surrender myself to a creed of ignorance and a philosophy of failure.”

Why is it so difficult for many like this to recognize the negative but accentuate the positive of this country — its exceptionalism?

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American Constitutional Rights Union is a non-partisan, non-profit public policy organization dedicated to defending all Americans’ constitutionally protected civil rights.