JC WATTS

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY February 04, 2024 a classic speech from J. C. Watts, sagacious African-American Republican congressman February 4th 1997, Julius Caesar Watts became the first African-American to deliver a party's response to a presidential State of the Union address. His wisdom also applies to us today: "If legislation is the answer to the racial divide in our nation, then why in God's name in our time has the division grown? Why is the healing we long for so far from reality? Why does it seem that the more laws we pass, the less love we have? Republicans and Democrats — red, yellow, black and white — have to understand that we must individually — all of us accept our share of responsibility." This former quarterback at the University of Oklahoma played six seasons of professional football. In 1990, running as a Republican, J. C. Watts was elected to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. In 1994, he won first of four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, rising to a leadership position. While co-chairing the 2000 Republican National Convention, Watts observed that "Character is doing what's right when nobody is looking."