Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

When Regina Roundtree, the Chair of the Urban Affairs Coalition at Connecticut’s Republican Party, was assembling a roster of speakers and participants for “ Crime, Guns and Race: A discussion on today’s civil rights issues ,” she settled upon former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, among others. The event, sponsored by The Connecticut chapter of the Frederick Douglass Foundation and its parent organization, CT Black Republicans and Conservatives (CBRAC), will be held on Saturday, October 11 from 9AM to 12PM at the Mark Twain House in Hartford.

From time to time – though very infrequently -- Connecticut Commentary has published commentary written by others. The column below was written by Regina Roundtree and is reprinted here with her permission. “I want you to think with me this morning from the subject: rediscovering lost values. Rediscovering lost values. There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong. I don’t think we have to look too far to see that. I’m sure that most of you would agree with me in making that assertion.”  --  Martin Luther King Jr. The approach of King’s holiday has new meaning to me this year. In 2013, I came out of the closet -- as a Black Republican. Coming out was more than just saying I am a Republican; it required putting my words into action.  When I started coming out in 2013 many of my Democratic associates were very surprised.  Aware of the stereotype that Republicans are white and racist, I questioned them about why ...