Allen West: You Are 'Doing Something Right' if Opponents Attack You

Col. Allen West, a former Republican congressman from Florida, said at Monday’s March For Jobs rally, organized by the Black American Leadership Alliance (BALA), that when the establishment and the institutional left attack someone, it is a sign that person is doing something good.

“You know you’re doing what’s right when people start to attack you,” West said after calling BALA founder and Progressives for Immigration Reform executive director Leah Durant up to the stage to join him. “As many people send me emails, as many people start writing about Leah Durant, something is going right about the Black American Leadership Alliance.”

West went on to note that politicians “have completely turned their backs on” inner cities and the black community around the country, and that the Senate’s immigration bill is no exception.

“When you think about what is happening with black unemployment, when you think about what is happening with black teenage unemployment, all those protesters down in Sanford, Florida, why aren’t they here today standing with us right now?” West asked to uproarious applause.

West said the degrading of the family is “the real tragedy of what is happening to the black community.”

“But now we have a Senate, we have a president, up here on Capitol Hill, that think it’s more important to reform people who came here illegally than it is to strengthen the inner cities and strengthen the black community,” West said.

West then railed on the Washington, D.C. city council for shutting down the production of four Wal-marts because they want to require Wal-mart to pay a higher minimum wage than any other employer in D.C.

“Do we have people who call themselves black leaders who are really going to do something about the black community?” West asked in outrage. “Or are they just toeing the line?”