Dear Fellow Republicans
We may have shared a candidate. But as an American and a black man, I cannot share your hatred.
TheRoot.com
Updated: 5:02 PM ET Nov 11, 2008
Nov. 12, 2008--

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Tripp N. Hard,

First, let me express my sympathies over the harsh losses that Republicans, myself included, endured last week. I knew the Republican brand would take a beating on Tuesday, but I never expected that so many traditionally red areas would turn blue as America chose its first African-American president.

I understand, fellow Republicans, that you are disappointed. I was depressed Tuesday night, too, watching my favorite local candidates lose to lesser-talented competitors, primarily because those folks rode the coattails of Senator...pardon me, President-elect Barack Obama.

But, Mr. and Mrs. Tripp N. Hard, you've let your disappointment get out of hand. In the past week, I have heard of numerous racist and hateful comments about President-elect Obama, from smears of "disgrace to whites," "kill that nigger" and "shoot Obama" to open letters saying that some anti-Obama folks are now "...voters with guns [that are] keeping an eye on him [Obama]..."

Free expression allows for statements—within reason—to be voiced here in America.

Ethical and moral standards demand a response to such statements.

I respectfully remind you of what the president-elect said last Tuesday night. He said clearly and correctly that we are the United States, and we must be united moving forward. He is our president-elect, too, despite our non-support of him politically. We are a country in need. He will need our help.

We are facing a mountain of social, international and economic challenges. We are not in a position to risk a severe shake-up in American leadership by inappropriately challenging the president-elect. Pushing him politically is one thing. Putting him under abnormal stress (even for a U.S. president) by prompting record levels of threats on his life is not a trend we can afford for four years.

America has buried too many African-American fathers prematurely. At a time when black America desperately needs black male role models, any threat to black fatherhood anywhere affects Americans everywhere. The widow-making hobby of America's past, highlighted by the untimely deaths of Malcolm X, Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr., cannot be re-initiated—or talked about glibly on radio and Web sites.

As a black father, I stand with the president-elect and say soundly that we will not have a repeat of great black women having to bury great black statesmen due to hatred and ignorance.

So, as a disappointed Republican voter, I hear you. I, too, will keep an eye on the president-elect, making sure that the most liberal senator in the U.S. Senate doesn't guide our center-right country too far to the left during his presidency.

Yet, as an American and as a black man, I deplore your hatred, and I—as well as many other Americans and citizens of the world—will keep an eye on you, too.

Change is not just coming to the White House. It's coming to our country, and it's change for a better, safer and more-inclusive America. You don't have to be on the outside looking in.

Hopefully, we'll see you at the table. And if you come, leave your guns and hatred at home.

Lenny McAllister is a political contributor who appears on "Fox News Rising" every Monday in Charlotte, N.C.