Contrary to popular belief, liberals — black and white alike — don’t loathe black conservatives simply because they are of a darker hue and dare to stand on the farthest right side of the political aisle.
It’s a point GOP presidential contender Herman Cain tried to argue in a recent interview with FOX News’ Juan Williams. Cain was hitting back at comedian Jon Stewart, who poked fun at the easy target during an episode of The Daily Show. Cain claimed, “Jon Stewart does not like me, in my opinion, because I’m an American black conservative.”
Considering Stewart’s line of work he may not have any strong feelings about Cain one way or another. As for the rest of us, it’s not so much about Cain’s political beliefs as it is the means in which he expresses them. Given his vilification of all things African and his attempts to shoo away from legitimate talks of racial insensitivity, it’s no wonder Cain draws comparisons to the self-hating Uncle Ruckus character from the now defunct animated series, The Boondocks.
Take for instance, Cain perpetuating the already debunked myth about President Obama’s origins. In an interview with Bloomberg, the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO said, “Barack Obama is more of an international. I think he’s out of the mainstream and always has been.”
He went on: “Look, he was raised in Kenya, his mother was white from Kansas and her family had an influence on him, it’s true, but his dad was Kenyan, and when he was going to school he got a lot of fellowships, scholarships, he stayed in the academic environment for a long time. He spent most of his career as an intellectual.”
With Donald Trump officially no longer wasting anyone’s time with a pretend presidential run anymore, Herman Cain is the only person still clinging to this level stupidity among the would be Republican presidential nominees. It’s sad that a black man willfully chooses to do so given xenophobia has long thwarted diversity in American politics and business.
When Cain isn’t promoting anti-intellectualism and trying to make President Obama sound as if he just left the set of The Jungle Book, he’s going out of his way to pacify white conservatives about the racist fringe element among their factions.
Speaking before the Conservative Political Action Committee in February, Cain told the audience, “You will get called racist simply because you happen to disagree with a president who happens to be black. You are not racists! You are patriots because you are willing to stand up for what you believe in!”
Never mind that some of these “patriots” had been spotted at various Tea Party rallies using blatantly racist language and imagery to vent their frustrations. Or people like Newt Gingrich, who branded President Obama the “food stamp President.”
Cain again shot down talks of racism, telling Meet The Press host David Gregory, “As a black man, I didn’t see race in that statement whatsoever.” Racism could snatch the glasses off Cain’s face and I imagine he’d still find a way to say it prejudice doesn’t exist. Well, unless he thought it was a Muslim who did it.
Worse, the guy who constantly raves about not using the “race card” continues to do so in increasingly pitiful ways. In his New York Times magazine Q&A, Cain opined that President Obama wasn’t a “real black man.” He explained, “A real black man is not timid about making the right decisions.”
Cain then went on to note yet again that Obama’s mother is white and that his father was born in Africa. The Georgia-bred businessman turned politician then added, “If he wants to call himself black, fine. If he wants to call himself African American, fine. I’m not going down this color road.”
I guess because he’s already speeding through the HOV lane on the racially deluded freeway.
As for what Cain calls himself, he told The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg: “I don’t use African-American, because I’m American, I’m black and I’m conservative. I don’t like people trying to label me. African-American is socially acceptable for some people, but I am not some people.”
Cain often makes about as much sense as Porky Pig becoming the mascot for the Nation of Islam.
To be fair, Uncle Ruckus would burn the Morehouse degree Cain earned decades ago. Still, in the end, folks of their ilk aren’t disliked necessarily because of their politics. They’re disliked because they’re willing to damn their own in order to advance them.