In 1994 Bill Pryor former Alabama Attorney General and current Judge on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals recruited me to run on the Republican ticket for a seat on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. I received well over a half million votes in the general election and was the only Republican candidate to lose to a Democrat in that election. I lost not because I was African American, but because I ran against the strongest democrat running, Sue Bell Cobb our current Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama. When I asked the Black political caucuses for their support I was laughed out of the room. I would later become Chairman of the Republican Council, the Black arm of the State Republican Party; once again I was laughed at and ridiculed. When former candidate for Governor Artur Davis sought my counsel about running for statewide office many years ago, I advised him that he would not receive support from the Black Political Caucuses. Today as a member of the new Republican majority, the party holding all constitutional offices, controlling all but two statewide offices and controlling the legislature for the next four years, I extend both my hands to my fellow like minded conservative thinking Blacks and say: "Cast down your buckets where you are and come home to the Republican Party, the Party of Lincoln.

 In the words of my dad, “You must honor the chair whether it is sitting, walking or lying down.”

Greg Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com or write to him at P.O. Box 250194 Montgomery, Alabama 36125-0194.