Dear Republican Leadership: You’ve missed your moment to shine

We’ve had 7, going on 8 years to have a shining moment here in America, but some of us have blown it.

We’ve gone from being a country built on the backs and blood of African royalty brought here as slaves…to twice electing an African American to the serve as President in the White House that was built by slaves. Take a moment with this:  President Barack Hussein Obama lives in The House that his enslaved ancestors and ours may well have built.

We who have been a part of this are all living history.

When we re-elected our President in 2012, we raised 5 million voices that the Republican leaders in Congress have refused to hear.  They’ve chosen to ignore us, the democratic process and to disrespect both the man and The Office of the Presidency.

And this in a way unprecedented in American history.

We, the people, had our shining moment.  We cried together, black and white that November night in 2008 when he, Michelle, Sasha and Malia took the stage for his victory speech in that park in Chicago.  We had proved that as a country we could come together and vote character over skin color.

We had come just that far since Dr. King’s voice rang out, leading us in, “We Shall Overcome”. But not all of us were crying. Some vacant ones were angry. Far too many of these empty souls fill far too many seats in Congress.  Seven years later, and like spoiled children, they still refuse to join us in respecting and working with who the American majority choose to be our President.

We’ve watched too many of these vacant Republican leaders plot and carry out some shameful things. In fact, they have become the kind of non-leaders that inspire the fruit we see in the GOP candidates now running for president. That fruit has not fallen far from the tree. It’s bitter, it’s ignorant, it does not speak the truth, it misleads the masses, and it has freed people to boldly vocalize their ignorance and hate and engage in acts of violence against Americans who don’t look like them, or believe like them, or share their faith or lifestyle. They have brought out the worst instead of the best in this country. They have ruined their own legacy, their own place in American history and have made a mockery of the 2-party, democratic process. They have become fodder we’d rather not have on display. They’ve become the subject of tremendous ridicule and disrespect from those who are watching us…from Canada to Africa.

Now, none of us are perfect. Not a single Democrat or Republican voter or elected official and not a single unenrolled voter like myself. But we’re not talking about the usual political differences in the typical political process here. What we’ve seen is a national disaster and disgrace. And that’s what this cancer has caused–we’ve watched an entire party’s leaders–governors and state level leaders, too–become anything but leaders and examples of what we want our people to aspire to. Instead, they’ve become embarrassments. We’re ashamed of them. They are a disgrace, but not because of party differences or platforms. We expect diversity and differences. It’s because they don’t, won’t, can’t respect, embrace, come to the table, go to work. They have failed. Completely. They’ve hurt us economically–wasted millions and millions of taxpayer dollars voting 50, 60, 70 or more times to overthrow just one thing. Fixated. Immature. Infantile. Irresponsible. So not worthy of the offices they hold. They don’t know how to play fair or to apply the same rules to everyone, including themselves.

We don’t respect them anymore, and we’ve moved past embarrassment and shame to a total disconnect from them, save their occasional leaders and former leaders who bravely step away from the pack, raise their voices, tell the truth, and declare that what is wrong–IS wrong.

For the past 7 years in our country’s history, this present Republican leadership has more than missed their moment to prove that they are able to look past color, past race and see a highly intelligent, highly cerebral, proactive, compassionate leader whose heart is for the people. There was nothing and there is nothing about our President that they couldn’t have worked with if they had ever tried. But his blackness and nothing he has said or done has always been their obstacle. Simply the fact that he is a black man that sits above them in the highest office of the land has evoked all the hatred that’s been running through their veins all along. They were never going to work with him because to do so would mean they’d have to submit to his authority and office AS President. They’d have to be humble and willing to acknowledge that this black man IS President and to convene in his Oval Office. To dignify and respect a black man that they consider themselves far superior to? Not this group. They’ve shown us what their intent was all along, and who they really are. The color of his skin is why they met before he began his first term and agreed to be 100% obstructionist.

That’s the only thing they’ve been faithful to. Certainly not the American people. Certainly not the Constitution. They use it to manipulate, but not for equality.

The old white boys network and the young ones alike have refused to fulfill their commitment to the people and do their jobs for the people they represent.  They missed the opportunity to move past political differences, past the color of his skin, past all the naysayers…and respect who we voted in to lead this country. They missed their moment in time to shine and be leaders…to move us away from what divides us and unite us instead. They’ve proven they can do nothing but further divide us.

Division’s running in their veins.

History will forever record that only we, the majority of the American voters, moved forward and made history in our shining moment. History will forever record that they missed theirs.

Well, this American refuses to share her legacy with them. There’s a complete disconnect. Instead, I stand with those in this country who don’t switch the Constitutional playbook based on color. I stand with those who don’t obstruct The Office based on the color of the man elected to sit in that chair.

I stand with those who are working and fighting to ensure that the democratic system applies to and works…for all of us. And I don’t care what color they are, or what party they belong to! That’s just pigment and labels.

Dear Republican leadership:  You have brought shame to a nation. You have made history for all the wrong reasons.

You have missed your moment to shine.