President Donald Trump tweeted out a storm of attacks against Rep. Elijah Cummings, calling him "racist" and his district a "rodent infested mess." USA TODAY


Black Republicans have a moral responsibility to be the conscience of the Republican Party. As black Republicans, we have collectively failed to articulate a defiant voice in response to the past and current Republican betrayals to the core issues of importance to African Americans, people of color and the national interest.

Where is the political moral challenge from black Republican voices of conscience when children are ripped from their mothers, families separated and caged liked animals? Lest we forget how black families during slavery were separated, caged, and denied humane treatment. Do we not remember our historic, long hard fight for civil rights?

Where is the outrage from black Republicans when the president of the United States tells four members of the U.S. Congress who are of color, three of whom were born in the United States, to go back to their own country? Is this not a repugnant refrain reminiscent from the past stony road we have trod as African Americans?

Why must we primarily only hear the voices of Democrats to fight the battles for freedom, equality and opportunity? Where are our voices as black Republicans opposing active voter suppression especially in the South? Are we so weak, complacent, and afraid to take a stand against the mismanaging of America and the democratic process? Why have we, the heirs to the Party of Lincoln, been shamefully acquiescent and silent to challenge those within the Republican Party?

Are we so starved for acceptance and recognition to be part of the Republican Club that we have become blind and numb to current injustices and political negligence? Have we become indifferent to the core destruction and values taking place within the Grand Old Party? Has our loneliness as black Republicans within the GOP stifled our resolve to challenge and openly engage in the fight for the American ideals for which so many have sacrificed their reputation, financial security and lives?

If we are honest and look inward at ourselves, we black Republicans are not respected. Black Democrats view us as racial traitors and clowning buffoons. White liberals openly attack and ridicule us for being Republican. If in fact we suffer from a sense of loneliness within the Republican Party, we must accept some fault lies with us. We have failed to articulate and distinguish our political substance within the Republican Party.

Those of us who served as presidential or political appointees have followed the example of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush not to criticize a sitting president. Let me remind you, President George W. Bush negated that example seconds after President Donald Trump completed his inaugural address.  

We need to hear the voices of former general, secretary of state and ambassador Colin Powell to reintroduce the importance of the Atlantic Alliance that has managed global affairs and secured peace since the end of World War II. 

We need to be reminded of the lessons learned about why Russia has been and remains a perennial threat to U.S. democracy and global stability from former national security advisor and secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and why China is a strategic, persistent predator competitor committed to globally displacing the United States economically, politically and militarily. 

We are missing the quiet voice and sage counsel of former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson, who understands the critical importance of implementing and executing a national urban infrastructure.


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There are others such as the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele who has been the singular brave voice in the political wilderness expressing the betrayal to long-established, good-governance Republicanism. Two years ago on "Meet the Press," former Republican Congressman J.C. Watts stated his “conscience would not allow him to remain silent on Charlottesville."  

Recently, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the lone African American in the Senate, called President Trump’s tweets “unacceptable and racially offensive.”

The current deafening silence among most black Republicans is an unprecedented abdication of the historic voices that bravely served the nation, fought for freedom, civil rights and stood against the barriers suppressing black economic, social and political upward mobility. The safeguarding of the hard-fought gains uniquely remains our sacred historic duty as black Republicans.

“So let us begin anew," as John F. Kennedy said.  Let us, we few, accept our responsibility to be the moral conscience of the Republican Party. Let us go forth and lift our voices as black Republicans, signifying (with respect to Langston Hughes) that “we, too, sing America.”

Ronald N. Langston served in the administrations of Ronald W. Reagan and George W. Bush and the offices of U.S. Sen. Roger W. Jepsen, R-Iowa.



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