This Saturday is the election for Chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, of which I am a member. This past week I was witness to seemingly inappropriate actions by one of the candidates regarding some racist comments posted on her Facebook wall. In a nutshell, the back story is here and my email which I sent to the National Committee was posted at HipHopRepublican.com and The Conservatist. It is unfortunate that liberal media outlets have also picked up this story, as it is deeply embarrassing for young conservatives, and rightly so. Since I made my statement, more information has been brought to light regarding comments made back in October, and I’m now even less wiling to give anyone the “benefit of the doubt” on this situation. Still as of today there’s been no apology.

My post here is a personal one though, on my observation of the reaction to this. It saddens me that a few people making excuses for this behavior and attacking those that condemn it as being “political” – but as I would expect, most YRs have come out against racism. What’s really troubling me is that as I read through the comments and stories on The Daily Beast, Wonkette, Gawker, Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and on and on, it became painfully obvious that people felt racist comments were normal for Republicans (Comedy Central’s headline read: “You’ll Never Believe Which Party Is Associated with This New Racist Scandal [You Actually Will Believe It Very Easily]“). For the record, I want to say, in my experience this is not true. I cannot speak for all parts of the country, so perhaps I am just that naive Seattle girl, but when I have to tell people to please not tell racist jokes around me, it’s usually not my Republican friends I’m having to address. I am not the exception, and racism is not the rule. This story is news because this is not normal YR behavior.

Republicans are the party of Lincoln. No, we’re they are not a party free from mistakes, or free from racism – nor is any. We’re also not all racist, as many commentators have triumphantly stated. As the youth of the country, we need to continue to move forward and let people know racist behavior is not okay. Not as a PR project, but because IT IS WRONG. We need to reject those who condone racism, and I believe many YRs are doing that today. Liberal and conservative youth should band together on this common ground. And we can. I received over twenty five encouraging messages from strangers across the country this morning, most of them young Democrats, all in a positive manner. Some of their touching messages brought me to tears. This is not a partisan issue. This is a human issue.

I am not out to destroy anyone or be a “cyber-thug” as claimed by some, nor am I taking orders from anyone but myself. I’m simply sharing my honest observations. As someone who committed to trying to make a difference in my country, I couldn’t ignore this once I saw it. I did not force this candidate to laugh publicly at racists jokes, to “LOL” about Obama in a noose in October, to unfriend me and another YR for pointing out the racism in her friend’s statements while leaving another person to continue his reign of bigoted comments on her Facebook wall, or to point the blame at her opponent for her own actions. I merely reported what I saw happening, because I am literally sick to my stomach to think that this could be the face of the Young Republicans. This is not the face of Young Republicans. This is not who I want representing me. I believe that most Young Republicans are good, smart, well meaning kids with a heavy responsibility on their shoulders to carry us forward on to the places where Republican ideology resonates in my heart: small, limited government and individual responsibility and liberty for all Americans. I am certain there are some involved just because they see it as a social club, a way to gain some semi-impressive titles they can toss about as resume fodder, a “good old boys’ club” or some other messed up motive – but these are not the majority of YRs, nor who the organization is for or what it needs to be. These are the bad apples, and not representative of the whole.

There will always be honest statesmen and career politicans. There will always be those who have learned from and apologized for mistakes, and those who will not own their mistakes and deny any guilt at all costs. There will always be those holding prejudices against groups of people they don’t even know, but hopefully, some day, they will be far outnumbered. Sadly, there will always be racists, but hopefully, some day, we’ll never consider them leaders.