DALLAS — Outgoing Texas Republican Party Chairman and candidate for governor Allen West on Sunday urged Americans to stop considering themselves as victims, but should “stand in the gap for liberty and freedom.”
“You know, I look out at this audience. There’s quite a few white folks out there,” said West, who is Black, during a Sunday speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting in Dallas. “But, you know something, I don’t feel one bit oppressed. I don’t feel like a victim, because as an American, as a Texan, I am a victor and not a victim. And as an American and a Texan, we all are victors. We are not victims.”
West, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and former Florida congressman, is challenging incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott in the 2022 GOP primary for Texas governor. West, who now lives in North Texas, announced his resignation as chairman of the Texas GOP after serving in the post for less than one year. His last day as the state’s GOP leader is Sunday.
Unlike rival Donald Huffines, the former Texas state senator also mounting a primary challenge against Abbott, West didn’t mention the governor in his brief remarks to the CPAC crowd. The group, which focuses on conservative policy, urges speakers to refrain from electioneering.
West stuck to the theme of boosting conservatism and guarding against the so-called “cancel culture.”
“If you’re a conservative in American — Black, white, Hispanic, Asian — it doesn’t matter. You are free,” West said.
He added: “In America today, we need more conservatives to stand like a rock, because that’s how we make sure that we don’t find our nation canceled for future generations, for our children and for our grandchildren.”
West urged the CPAC crowd the join the conservative army.
“If we are going to make sure that America is not canceled, we have to step foot on this ideological battlefield,” he said.
