Six Reasons Why White People Love Herman Cain

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An Open Letter to African American Herman Cain

Herman Cain

Dear Herman,

You don't know me, and until recently I didn't know you, but because I am a political junkie, I have been forced to learn about you. And boy, where do we start?

Firstly, I have figured out your game. I know you are not really running for president, you are running for a position on FOX News. You see, running for president is a great branding tool, because it raises your profile and the press writes about everything you say and do. No one knew who you were a few months ago, and now you are household name. And after you lose, you can go back to your media career and sell some more books.

There is a long history of no hopers running for president -- talk to Donald Trump. Cybill Shepherd, Pat Buchanan and Pat Robertson also said they were running for president at one point, and look where they are now?

But this letter is not about your political views, and it's not about the fact that business skills do not necessarily make a great president. We all remember how well the last "CEO president" turned out. But this is about your apparent self loathing of black people and Africa.

I was particularly disturbed by your recent comment stating, "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."

Herman, this sounds dangerously like self hatred. Malcolm X said, "You can't hate the roots of a tree and not hate the tree. You can't hate Africa and not hate yourself." If you are black man living in America, how did you get here? How were the original black Americans brought to America, and where did they come from? And why is a black man trying to deny his link to Africa? I can't imagine that an Irish American would ever deny his cultural ties to his ancestral home.

Herman, I can understand how you may feel that you have nothing in common with Africa. Your view of Africa is probably formed from the America media, which shows nothing but starvation and warfare. But you can't run from your roots. You are the descendant of Africans, and there is no hiding it.

If you ever did a DNA test, you would discover what ethnic group you are descended from. And if you actually visited Africa, you would see people who look just like you. You might actually learn that it looks nothing like the images you see on FOX and CNN.

Herman, in my 40 odd years on the planet, I have learned that you can't run from who you are. You have to embrace it -- both the good parts and bad parts. Let me tell you my story, I come from an African family who also lived in the Diaspora. When I was younger, I was embarrassed by my African name and wanted to be like other Africans in the Diaspora, who had Westernized names.

I even lived in Africa and was turned off by the chaos and poverty I experienced over there. It has been a long journey, but over the years I have learned to embrace my African heritage, I have studied and learned of the contributions African have made to the world civilization. And I have learned that Africa had empires, language, art and religion long before Europeans arrived. I am a black man, my parents come from Africa, and I have an African name. Herman, this is your background too. Running from it would be like trying to run from your shadow.

Yes, there are some cultural differences between Black Americans and Africans, but we have a shared heritage. Maybe we are not brothers, but were definitely cousins.

So do us all a favor and just accept who you are. This is really getting embarrassing. Odabo, brother. (That means goodbye in Yoruba!)

Photo by Gage Skidmore

Herman Cain is a Placebo for White Racism

Herman Cain

After watching Tea Party favorite and GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain's new campaign video, I finally came to a realization. I had long wondered what was the attraction was for the only African American Republican presidential candidate. But then I realized that Cain is running as an apologist for white racism. And that is why the Tea Party loves him.

Cain, with his rags to riches story of rising from the son of a chauffeur to a CEO, fits in perfectly with people who want to believe America does not still have issues with race. Republicans can vote for Cain and say, "Well, we aren't racist, we voted for a black man." I guess they have forgotten about all those signs they had at the health care rallies a few years ago, depicting President Barack Obama as everything from a witch doctor to a monkey.

I have several problems with Cain, apart from his apologetic tour. He has no political experience. His only other political campaign was losing a GOP primary in Georgia, and while some may see that as an advantage, it isn't. The last time a non politician was elected to the White House was Dwight Eisenhower, who lead Allied forces in World War II. And if you want to know how well non politicians do in office, just ask California how Arnold Schwarzenegger worked out.

Cain's main selling point is his business experience. But after the Wall Street excesses that nearly crashed the world economy, why do Americans keep screaming for government to be run more like a business? Do they really want government run like Lehman Brothers and Enron?

Corporate chiefs don't have the temperament for the political world, as can be seen in the disastrous reign of Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who is fast-gaining a reputation as the worse governor in the country. Scott, a former health care executive who was fired after his company received the largest fine in American history for Medicare fraud, is facing animosity from the left and the right.

Scott has barely been in office six months and Floridians are already talking about a recall. Cain has already flubbed questions about the complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict, so who knows how worse he will do under even more scrutiny?

But the really troubling thing about Cain, is how he is so willing to pander to racial politics. He bandies about phrases like, "leaving the Democratic plantation," and being a "Son of the South."

Cain is appealing to Nascar Dads, which is ironic because many of these people also expressed some of the most virulent hatred towards Obama because he was "Muslim," or "foreign." And at his lowest point Cain, pandered to bigots by bragging that he would not name a Muslim person to his cabinet. (He later tried to backtrack on this.)

Republicans like to say that Cain's popularity shows that the GOP has embraced diversity, but I suspect that if he was made the Republican presidential candidate, he would split the party. Some of the ex Dixiecrats, who were seduced by Nixon's Southern Strategy, would split off and join a party that expressed more radical racial views.

But even if Cain was white, he would still be like Sarah Palin, a joke of a candidate, who has no chance of getting elected. He is just lapping up the media attention in his "I'm Trying to Get Paid" tour." The campaign has done wonders for his name recognition. And if he has to become the latest conservative black minstrel, he seems wiling to pay that price. He has plenty of company alongside Alan Keyes, Juan Williams and Jessie Lee Peterson in FOX News' Brotherhood of Self-Loathing Brothers.