Like Steve Biko, I Write What I Like

My family immigrated to America in the same year that South African police murdered Black Consciousness leader Steve Biko. The racist regime that destroyed him viewed him as a threat because of his simple credo: “I write what I like.” Biko understood that freedom of thought and expression were the greatest weapons against tyranny.

Last week, my opponent, Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), called on me to denounce Andrew Breitbart and to end any further association with his website, BigGovernment.com.

Her attack was typical of a corrupt Washington elite that believes it is entitled to tell people what to say and where to say it. It was that kind of behavior that convinced me to run against Schakowsky to begin with, after she collaborated with paid organizers in shutting down questions from constituents at her town hall meeting last August.

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For the record, Schakowsky blogs at the Huffington Post, as does her husband, convicted felon Robert Creamer. She spoke this past weekend at Netroots Nation, a conference for left-wing bloggers. I have never once demanded that she stop blogging or expressing her point of view, though I disagree with her and some of her colleagues.

I write what I like, and so do Schakowsky and Creamer.My freedom has the same value as theirs. The First Amendment is not a perk for members of Congress and their spouses. That is the greatness of America, and one of the many reasons I am proud to be an American.

Schakowsky has lashed out because my campaign has turned her “safe seat” into a competitive one. Her radical policies have killed jobs in our district, and even Democrats are tired of her bullying style of politics. My blogs have exposed her role in the corrupt ShoreBank bailout, and her husband’s role in planning the Democrats’ health care push.

As for race–my experience in working with black communities, both in the U.S. and as a Rotary scholar in South Africa, has taught me that a growing economy is the best way to improve tolerance and race relations. Conversely, when government grows, and jobs in the private sector disappear, life becomes a zero-sum game and tensions increase.

The Obama administration has adopted policies and rhetoric that are calculated to divide Americans. It threw Shirley Sherrod under the bus to preserve its cynical campaign of defamation against the Tea Party. Andrew’s provocative role was to show that the victims of racial politics are often the very people it is supposed to benefit.

I believe that Andrew should have been more careful in his choice of words, and I told him that. But he was not the one who fired Ms. Sherrod without a full or fair investigation. The proper address for that complaint is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.

Meanwhile–I write what I like!