Herman Cain - Race Relations
Opportunity
In February of 2006, Herman Cain wrote an article that appeared on the North Star Writing Group. The article discusses recent comments by President Carter and race relations overall.
February 15, 2006
Opportunity Is Not Black or WhiteFormer President Jimmy Carter said last week at Coretta Scott King’s funeral:
“The struggle for equal rights is not over. We only have to recall the color of the faces of the people in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi — those who are most devastated by Katrina — to know that there are not equal opportunities for all Americans.”
The unfortunate snapshot of poverty exposed by Hurricane Katrina is not an accurate portrait of the equal opportunity available all across America. Carter’s comment dismisses the millions of black Americans who ran through the doors of opportunity following the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but he could not resist a chance to further stir feelings of racial resentment.
Our great nation was established on a concept once thought revolutionary, yet considered by our founders as so fundamental that they described it as “self-evident.” The concept is that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Although it took America nearly 200 years to live up to that ideal, the fact is that we are a long way from the struggle. Today’s challenge is to protect equal rights and opportunity for all of us.
Carter’s comments deny the successes achieved by leaders such as President Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the late U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen, who was the driving force behind the Civil Rights Act, and the millions of anonymous heroes who fought for and achieved equality of opportunity for all American citizens.
Though the founders declared that all men are created equal, slavery was still permitted until 1862, when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1865, soon after the end of the Civil War, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, banning slavery throughout the entire United States. In 1868, the 14th Amendment was ratified, which established citizenship for all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., and guaranteed all citizens due process and equal protection under the laws. Discrimination against blacks in the electoral process still continued, and the 15th Amendment, ratified in 1870, stated that the right to vote shall not be denied on the basis of race.
Legal barriers to blacks’ full participation in our nation’s educational, electoral and economic processes continued through the 1960s. The famous 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education tackled the issue of forced segregation in schools. The 24th Amendment, ratified in 1964, abolished poll taxes that had prevented many blacks from voting. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited both discrimination in employment and forced segregation in schools. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 further empowered the federal government to monitor voter registration and elections in counties and states with histories of racial discrimination.
Today, the word race has lost much of the meaning that it carried just over forty years ago when Congress passed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. Prior to the 1960s and the enactment of these historical pieces of legislation, a person’s particular race determined where he or she could attend school, whether or not they could vote and even access to drinking fountains and swimming pools. Laws separated us by race, and it was these racial barriers that inspired many to give their lives – sometimes literally – to the cause of equal protection and equal opportunity for all Americans.
Enactment of legislation such as the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts did not guarantee equal outcomes for blacks and other racial minorities, but their passage did guarantee the opportunity for all to pursue their economic freedom through academic achievement. Millions of blacks and minorities took advantage of the educational opportunities available for the first time and found economic success in virtually every profession.
Today, with the absence of laws to segregate us and limit our opportunities merely because of our racial ancestry, race alone is no longer a barrier to success. Instead, academic achievement and making smart decisions in our personal lives remove the barriers we may have been born with. College entrance exams don’t care who holds the pencil, high school and college diplomas are colorblind, and money doesn’t care whose pocket it’s in. Today men and women of any skin color can compete for admission to any college or university, compete for jobs in the private sector and freely vote for their favorite candidates. Race itself is no longer an impediment to achieving academic success and economic freedom.
Every American citizen who chooses to pursue and achieve economic freedom has that opportunity today, regardless of his or her skin color. The current metrics and trends of the current economy also prove Carter’s assertion to be misleading. The unemployment rate is 4.7 percent, GDP has grown for over 4 years and most families are moving up the income brackets, as they have done in each of the previous three decades.
Race matters only to those who want to continue to keep the nation divided. Some individual Americans may from time to time stand in your way, but America does not. America is defined by its ideals, not by its limitations.
The charge young blacks and minorities must keep today – their debt for the struggle that took nearly 350 years – is to capitalize on all the opportunities available in the U.S. for academic and economic growth. People create limitations. America creates opportunities.
A New Black Politics
In October of 2006, Herman Cain wrote an article discussing the solidarity of African American voters relating to the Democratic party.
October 11, 2006
A New Black PoliticsThe disservice one-party politics inflicts on African Americans can be measured directly by the harm it inflicts, and indirectly by the advantages it prevents.
The direct harm is obvious. When our votes can be delivered in lots, like slaves at auction, then our politicians needn’t concern themselves with what we want.
African Americans need serious education reform. But since many vote Democratic without it, our politicians sell out our children’s interests to the teachers’ unions. African Americans need strong, two-parent families. But since many will vote Democratic regardless, our politicians oppose a marriage amendment.
African Americans need economic opportunity. But instead of allowing us to accumulate savings with part of our Social Security taxes, Democrats pile new taxes and regulations on black working families.
In lieu of accomplishment, African Americans are fed a steady diet of fantasy. We are told that Republicans are responsible for Hurricane Katrina, that Republicans burn black churches and that Republicans prevent us from voting. This unsupportable mythology of victimhood, continuously repeated, prevents our young from recognizing the opportunities spread out before them in this, the freest nation in the world.
The fact that most blacks vote Democratic doesn’t imply that most blacks are liberals. In truth, there are few issues on which black opinion varies significantly from that of other Americans. Millions of religious African Americans are appalled at abortion on demand, which claims 400,000 babies a year in our community. A majority of blacks want lower taxes, and more choice in education, health care and retirement.
There are three million African-American armed-service veterans in the United States. These men and women don’t necessarily subscribe to a philosophy of “cut and run.”
It is too easy to blame Democrats for the political isolation of blacks. The monopoly liberals have enjoyed over African-American politics is as much the responsibility of the party that ceded that monopoly – namely, the Republicans. If black conservatives fail to identify with Republicans, if black working people believe absurd accusations regarding Republicans, it is largely because the GOP has allowed it. Political advertising on the signature media of African Americans – urban contemporary radio, black gospel, BET – is monopolized by Democrats, not because of any restriction on Republicans, but because GOP operatives and conservative issue groups have failed to exercise their options in a free market.
America’s PAC, which I serve as spokesman, has organized mass-media campaigns directed to African-American voters in 2004 and again this year. We want black voters to know that Republicans favor school reform and school choice. We want them to know that the GOP will help workers accumulate financial assets with their own Social Security taxes.
America’s PAC is spreading the Republican message of hope to the growing ranks of black entrepreneurs, who need a tax environment that encourages growth, and the accumulation of capital.
Our ads honor the efforts of black veterans – indeed, all veterans – to keep this country safe from terrorist threats. And we publicly air the position of the parties on social issues that have affected our communities so deeply – abortion, drug abuse and the status of marriage.
Now, for some in my community, such a campaign is strong medicine. For decades, black Democratic leaders have substituted smear tactics, racial slurs and paranoid fantasies for substantive policy. Opening a genuine debate on school choice, taxation, the right to life and the war on terror threatens some such leaders, and frightens many. But political competition can do nothing but benefit the black community – even those who do not agree with the Republican point of view.
At a minimum, it will force the Democrats to listen once again even as they continue to take the black vote for granted.
Diversity Distraction
In January of 2007, Herman Cain wrote an article discussing the fallacy of using race as a selection tool for the next President of the United States. He uses his own history as an example of selecting a person based on skill and not race.
January 29, 2007
Diversity DistractionWhen The Pillsbury Company appointed me president of the then-troubled Godfather’s Pizza chain in 1986, they were not looking for a black president because it was time for the first time in its history to have a black man in charge of a major business unit. They were looking for someone who had successfully demonstrated leadership ability.
In the real world, the individuals who usually rise to the top of their chosen professions and achieve their dreams are the most talented and hardest working. In the political world, success is too often determined by political tenure, timing and factors none of us can control, such as our race, ethnicity or sex.
The process for choosing the next president of the United States should focus on electing someone with the experience and leadership ability to identify the most important challenges to our economic infrastructure and national security, and to articulate common sense solutions. The job is too important to choose someone solely because they are black, Hispanic, or female. Yet the media and many of the Democratic Party’s self-appointed kingmakers are focused solely on the Democratic candidates’ checkbox demographics, and not on their ability or the substance of their message. So far, substance is noticeably absent from these and most of the presidential contenders.
In a January 25 Washington Post article on Senator Barack Obama’s (D-IL) support among Democratic African-Americans, Reverend B. Herbert Martin of Chicago stated, “How does he identify himself? Will he continue to be an African-American, or will he become some kind of new creation?”
My guess is that Sen. Obama will continue to be an African-American, just as the sun will continue to rise in the East.
African-American columnist Stanley Crouch wrote in a November 2, 2006 column, “Other than color, Obama did not – does not – share a heritage with the majority of black Americans, who are descendants of plantation slaves.”
So what!
Isn’t it funny that it is the liberals who are obsessed with Obama’s race? Many of those who claim to be black leaders in the mold of Martin Luther King, Jr., who stated that we should judge each other by the content of our character and not the color of our skin, cannot get past Obama’s skin color and how the senator plans, if at all, to represent his skin color.
Of course, the origin of Obama’s parents has nothing to do with his cautioned support from liberal black leaders. As Debra Dickerson notes in a January 22 Salon.com article, “He didn’t attain power through traditional black channels (not a minister, no time at the NAACP) so, technically, he owes the civil rights lobby nothing, but they need him in their debt.”
In other words, if Obama doesn’t start blaming Hurricane Katrina on tax cuts for the rich, he can forget about support from Jesse and Al and all of the class warfare warriors. They’ll give their endorsement to Hillary and Bill, who will be more than happy to put them on the payroll.
Obama’s potential challenge in attracting black voters does not exactly grease the skids to the nomination for Sen. Clinton, however. The media and likely Democratic voters appear to be as obsessed with the fact that Clinton is a female as they are that Obama happens to be black.
Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen recently wrote, “Polls show just about everybody knows Clinton and has an opinion of her. Some are energized by the prospect of the first woman president, and she'll attract support from those who say “it's about time” and women who say “it's our turn.” But she also registers some of the highest negative ratings of any candidate in the race.”
In reality, there isn’t much diversity among the Democratic presidential candidates. Yes, Obama is black, Hillary is a woman and Bill Richardson is Hispanic. But they are all liberals who advocate universal health care, high tax rates on everyone and cutting and running from the global war on terrorism. Whichever nominee Democratic caucus and primary voters select, they will voice the same old liberal class warfare rhetoric, chapter and verse.
When I ran in the 2004 Republican U.S. Senate primary in Georgia, the majority of my support came from white Georgians, not urban Atlanta’s African-Americans. Those who supported my campaign and voted for me embraced my issue-based campaign of a strong national defense, replacing the income tax code, restructuring Social Security and the health care system, and not the color of my…eyes.
But what did the media always want to ask me about? My position on affirmative action. My standard answer was, “It depends on what you mean by the term ‘affirmative action’.” That usually caused blank stares from the reporters and allowed me to turn the focus back on the big issues.
One would think that by 2007, we would have moved beyond judging each other by the demographic factors that only God can control. Our great nation is starved for political leaders in the Capitol and the White House with the courage to fix the crumbling and archaic pillars of our economic infrastructure, regardless of the perceived political fallout.
It’s not time for a white president, a black president, a female president or a Hispanic president.
It’s time for a leader.
CNN and the Race Card
In October of 2007, Herman Cain wrote an article discussing recent events on CNN, and claimed that CNN had played the race card.
October 1, 2007
In Attack on Bill O’Reilly, CNN Plays the Race CardThere are a lot of things that move race relations forward in this country that most people never hear about, but there seems to be more things that move race relations backward due to “race-colored” glasses, an abundance of negative racial stereotypes in entertainment, making condescending remarks and taking comments out of context to attack someone.
Looking through race-colored glasses almost sent several Duke University lacrosse players to jail for rape, when in fact the charges against them were bogus. These same glasses tried a black teenager as an adult for a fight with a white student in Jena, Louisiana.
The “hip-hop” and “gangster-rap” business too often portrays violence – abusing women and not cooperating with police authorities – as being “cool” to youngsters. These images distract kids from the real secret to success, which is education.
And the next time one of my white brothers or sisters tells me that one of their best friends is black, I might need an airline barf bag. It has not happened to me lately, but it has happened to me many times. That’s how not to impress a black person. It’s just condescending.
Hillary Clinton’s recent attempt to connect with a black audience by reciting the lines of a well-known gospel song (“I don’t feel no ways tired”) in a fake southern drawl was just disgusting and condescending.
The latest negative infraction to race relations in America was CNN’s attempt to brand Bill O’Reilly as a racist because of some comments he made about an experience he had at a well-run black owned restaurant in Harlem, known as Sylvia’s. I have only met Bill O’Reilly casually while passing him in the “green room” at a Fox News studio, so I am not trying to defend a close friend. I am defending right from wrong.
It is wrong to label someone a racist when they are not. O’Reilly commented to Juan Williams, a senior correspondent for NPR and a Fox News analyst, that he was pleasantly surprised that there was no one shouting profanity, and no one threatening people while in Sylvia’s.
Juan Williams clarified the context of the comment in a Time article dated September 28, 2007 (“What Bill O’Reilly Really Told Me”) and stated emphatically that O’Reilly is not a racist because of his comments during a radio interview. But, Williams was then branded by one CNN commentator as a “Happy Negro” (meaning Uncle Tom) for allowing O’Reilly to get by with making racist comments.
It is also wrong to label Juan Williams, whom I happen to know and respect tremendously, as an Uncle Tom. Read his book, “Enough”, and you will know why.
O’Reilly just had low expectations because of his upbringing as explained in the article. He now has much higher expectations of well-run, black-owned businesses.
Being called an Uncle Tom when one does not see everything through race-colored glasses is not new. It has happened to me and I’m sure it will happen again, because not all black people live down to low expectations. Condescending remarks to try and score racial points with someone is not new. And as long as someone is making money from negative racial stereotypes, they will continue.
Most of us are accustomed to some individuals trying to play the race card for their own personal gain even when it is not warranted. But when a major cable news channel plays the race card out of context, it’s out of bounds and does nothing to improve racial attitudes.
Maybe CNN should raise its expectations.
Barack Obama is Black
In February of 2008, Herman Cain wrote an article discussing the media's fascination with Senator Barack Obama's race.
February 18, 2008
Wow! Barack Obama is African-American? Let’s Be Honest About RaceA few weeks ago, I heard Dick Morris, former advisor to Bill and Hillary Clinton, say in an interview that if Hillary falls behind Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary elections, then Hillary’s campaign would play the “race card”. Not directly, but through her surrogates.
Dah dah! After last Tuesday’s primaries, Barack Obama took the lead over Hillary Clinton in delegate votes for the first time in the Democratic presidential nominating contest. On Wednesday, a quote by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat who supports Clinton, appeared in the media:
“You’ve got conservative whites here (Pennsylvania), and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate.”
Wow! I didn’t know Barack Obama was African-American. I must have been living in a cave for the past year. And I am sure millions of voters may not have given much thought to Obama’s race, but they might now!
I first saw the quote on the Fox News Channel last Wednesday, and could not believe that Dick Morris’s prediction would materialize so quickly. Coincidentally, the Pennsylvania primary is on April 22. That’s about two months for voters in Pennsylvania to ponder Gov. Rendell’s comment. It may not matter by then, but it could matter at the Democratic National Convention next August or in the general election in November.
Let’s be honest about race.
Populist race hustlers such as Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have been exposed for their hypocrisy time and time again. Selective media outrage over racially insensitive comments is not even a debate. But when most of us believe we have come so far from civil rights to equal rights to equal opportunity, the Democratic establishment candidate plays the race card to remind some people of old attitudes.
Let’s be clear. Barack Obama is not my presidential candidate of choice. My intent is to remind people how easily it is for their attitudes to be tainted and distracted for someone else’s quest for political power.
This country is only temporarily color blind, until someone uses the power of suggestion to bring race from the back of the bus of someone’s consciousness to the front of the bus. The good news is that only a small percentage of people, black and white, fall for this age-old psychological tactic.
Gov. Rendell’s comment was not racist, but it was racial. And for some people, a racial comment is all that is required to stir up racist feelings. Or at a minimum, it is enough to cause someone to hesitate when they get ready to cast their vote for the next president of the United States of America.
Some people will always have racially inspired motives for their actions. But I firmly believe that most people have gotten past those attitudes. This is not based on a poll or survey or media sound bite. This is based on the personal experiences of my successful career in corporate America, and my impressive second place finish in the 2004 Georgia Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
I am black, and I did say I ran as a Republican in Georgia.
This country has a lot of strengths. But one of its greatest strengths is its ability to change for the better. And no matter how much we move forward, there will always be some people who will try to stir the attitudes of the past.
Now let’s get back to the presidential race.
Front of the Bus
In June of 2008 Herman Cain wrote an article discussing the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama and his views on where that placed the US in race relations.
June 9, 2008
With Obama’s Success, Fairness Moves to the Front of the Bus
Barack Obama’s victory in the contest for the Democratic presidential nomination was not just historic because of the color of his skin. It was a historic victory for fairness in America. As imperfect as our political system can be at times, fairness moved to the front of the bus.
Attempts by some to make race, sexism or class warfare central issues in the campaign have failed. They are still issues and will be throughout the general election to November 2008, but they are now riding in the back of the bus.
Most of the mainstream media missed this historic significance for fairness. I did not, because I grew up in Atlanta in the 1950s and 1960s when I was not allowed to ride in the front of the bus because of the color of my skin, which is black.
I also experienced as a young man the indignity of separate water fountains in downtown Atlanta’s retail department stores, and all other public accommodations. Having graduated from high school in 1963, one year before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed such practices, I experienced unfairness and discrimination firsthand.
I was denied admission to both the University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology, even though I graduated from Samuel Howard Archer High School in 1963 with the second highest grade point average in my class as salutatorian. As a result, I attended Morehouse College and, in hindsight, I ended up with a great education and a much better college experience.
I’m not mad. I just see Obama’s accomplishment through a different set of lenses, as a lot of black people do. Although there are millions of accomplished black Americans in all fields of endeavor, becoming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is special.
No. I am not going to vote for Barack Obama because he is black and I am black, as some people will do. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we should judge a candidate based on the content of their character and their ideas, not the color of their skin.
Barack Obama’s ideas for changing this country are disturbing to me, because they add up to more taxes, more government, more handouts and less individual responsibility. A lot of people who are excited about his candidacy have not looked past the word “change”. I have, and all of his ideas have socialist leanings. It does not sound that way when he is delivering one of his inspiring and eloquent speeches, but that’s what it is.
If you would like to look behind the Obama curtain of “change” you can find a summary by The Associated Press titled, “Where they stand: Obama, McCain on the issues” dated June 3, 2008. Decide for yourself.
The Democratic Party allowed the process to play out fairly, which is good for America, the Democratic Party and the political process.
The Democratic Party leadership could have stolen the nomination from Barack Obama, if they had reversed their decision to not allow delegates from Michigan and Florida to have full voting rights, since they went against party rules before the primary contest began. The Democratic Party tried to appease them and Hillary Clinton with a half vote per delegate, but it was not enough to change the final outcome.
The Democrats could have also stolen the nomination from Barack Obama if the superdelegates had caved in to the lobbying by Hillary and her team in the face of an impending defeat.
They did not.
Some of Hillary’s supporters are now saying Hillary was not treated fairly because she is a woman. If Barack Obama had lost, there is no doubt that some of his supporters would have said he was not treated fairly because he is black.
I never said that race and sexism were totally off the bus. But it is up to all of us to keep them in the back of the bus.