Former Florida congressman and Texas gubernatorial candidate Lt. Col. Allen West joined ‘Fox & Friends Weekend' on Sunday to discuss the controversy surrounding his recent visit to the University at Buffalo where his speech on American exceptionalism roused a slew of unruly student protesters

During his appearance, West said his background as someone born in a blacks-only hospital and raised in the same Atlanta community that produced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. warrants his opinion on race and American exceptionalism and that the students involved in the campus protests just "want to be victims."

LT. COL. ALLEN WEST: I'm part of the speaker group with the Young America's Foundation, and I'm going to talk to these conservative students on these campuses about these many different topics, and this topic was about race and American exceptionalism. And prior to me even getting there, the posters that were announced in my coming were being ripped out, and I was on 'Fox & Friends' early on Wednesday to talk about that, but, you know, I've been in combat and of course, I was not concerned, but I was concerned about the safety of the students that are there at the University of Buffalo. But the fact is this: Y'all just had a segment talking about free speech. You know, as I explained to those students, I was born 61 years ago in a black-only in hospital. And I grew up in the same inner-city Atlanta neighborhood that produced Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 11: Former Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., speaks during a news conference at the House Triangle at the Capitol on the anniversaries 9-11 and Benghazi on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2013. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call) (Bill Clark)

My elementary school was right across the street from Ebenezer Baptist Church. So if you want to talk about race and American exceptionalism, why shouldn't a black man that was born 61 years ago in a blacks-only hospital, that rose through the ranks to become a lieutenant colonel when his dad was a corporal in the segregated Army, became a member of the United States House of Representatives. But these kids want to be victims. They don't want to hear that. They're very militant, they're very radical, and I'm glad that we exposed them.

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