History 101 For Herman Cain

Please pay attention, the tiger you’re riding has teeth and a tail. So, be careful. Nonetheless, you do need to know why Blacks have begun voting Republican and why they left that party for the Democratic Party.

[National: Comment]

Ambling along this afternoon, I heard an old woman
mumbling, “The devil is a liar” and upon reaching home, the TV reported, Herman
Cain, Republican presidential candidate expressed the view, Black Americans who
vote Democratic are “brainwashed.”

Poor Mr. Cain, perhaps there was too much
spice in his pizza or he believes winning the straw poll in Florida really makes
him a winner! Unfortunately, Hermano (meaning brother) is not fully aware of the
ramifications attendant in the lion’s den where he is now an active player.

Even
more, Mr. Cain is perhaps in need of a good history lesson, which begs the
question, “Does he write his own material?” That is, is he trying to say,
particularly in today’s world, there is more opportunity for Blacks in the
Republican Party as opposed to its Democratic counterpart? If so, why is it
there are only two newly minted Republican members of Congress and some 42
Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus? As such, Mr. Cain got it
wrong as all such “Cain” misstatements from time immemorial have been.

For example, if we begin with Biblical lore, our brother
Herman should have been aware that Cain killed his brother Abel out of jealousy!
When the Lord enquired of Abel’s, “the keeper of the sheep,” whereabouts; Cain,
“the tiller of the soil,” in arrogance responded, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Obviously answering his own question, he meant “No! I am not my brother’s
keeper!” The Lord was so annoyed with Cain; he put a mark on him before he was
forced to depart from the divine presence to dwell in the Land of
Nod!

Equally, the political platform from which Mr. Cain
articulates, the contemporary Republican Party, has not been kind to Blacks, who
for the most part, have been considered “Cannon fodder.” This is so, because in
ascending their ladder of aspirations it forces Black operatives to renounce the
nature of their historical experience in this country and the essentiality of
their cultural and historical being. In this respect, Black Republicans are
lulled into the false sense of security by being told, “You’re not like them!”
Recently, a New York Tabloid described the two current Black Republicans as
“attack dogs” for their party. To date, these two persons have not uttered a
word in condemnation of all racial characterizations of President Obama. Is this
akin to “selling one’s soul to the devil?”

For example, we know the story of President Obama’s road
to the White House and the numerous assaults he suffered particularly the racist
machinations directed toward his person, even toward his family. Yet he
persevered, recognizing he is a Black man but not flaunting this reality nor
taking advantage of his African American heritage. In his effort to downplay
race and hopes of moving America forward in another direction, as Dr. Martin
Luther King implored, Mr. Obama hopes his children, would not be judged by the
“color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Even more
important, taking the high road, Mr. Obama overlooked any and all racial slurs
and disrespectful commentary directed at him. As such, people of all persuasions
flocked to his banner and elected Mr. Obama, President. Venturing upon his
responsibilities as the Oath of Office dictated, the world hailed Mr. Obama’s
new direction for America; and even as he blunted the negative international
characterization of this nation, the anti-Obamaites unfolded their new strategy
contradicting the emerging and much publicized hope for a “Post-Racial America.”

The point man for the now coalesced attack on Mr. Obama
has been none other than the highest Republican in the Senate, Senator Mitch
McConnell. It would be foolish to believe he had not caucused with other
Republicans in and out of Congress before his publicly stated policy boast, “My
job is to make Barack Obama a one-term President.” In “dictatorial banana
republics,” such a public statement would be considered treason and unpatriotic!
This is alarming yet not really surprising since the Constitution guarantees the
right of free speech; still, great Republican leaders remained silent in
response to this clearly and publicly stated attack on the Presidency and
President Obama himself. Some have charged this is purely racist behavior
because the President is Black. More importantly, it is perhaps because as we
now have a man inside we now have access to hidden-secrets of this “inner
sanctum.”

So, in wake of such action, Mr. Obama has had to “fight
on two fronts” having to address the problems facing his beloved nation while
having to contend with single-minded opposition in and out of government, that
in reality is really more unpatriotic when viewed objectively. However, despite
the tremendous ad hominem attacks on
the man and his policy, Mr. Obama took the high road, seeking compromise in
dealing with Republicans and even “fifth wheels” in his own political party.
Meanwhile, despite his avalanche of legislative action on fiscal and financial
policy, dispensing stimulus dollars to rescue banks, the auto industry, aiding
Wall Street and helping the retention of essential service personnel in states
across the nation, the attacks continued. He has also been championing the
environment through his insistence on innovative energy sources to make the
nation less dependent on foreign imports because such petroleum dollars adds to
the ever-increasing foreign trade debt as well as the trade imbalance; all this,
even as he addresses the general foreign debt and the debt ceiling crisis.

Along the way, having gained traction and respectability,
as an adjunct to the “McConnell Mandate,” the “Tea Party” advocates changed from
dungarees to business suits and hoodwinked American voters. Voila, the results
of the 2010 election! Perhaps “Occupy Wall Street” is the grassroots reaction to
“Tea Party” and Republican protection of the “One percent.” When the issue of
“renewal of the Bush Tax Cuts” and later the “Debt Ceiling” debacle emerged,
this caused the world to take notice because American economics affects the
global financial markets. Through all of these challenges, Mr. Obama relied on
that profound American tradition, the art of compromise, to avoid gridlock in
government. Let us not forget, as an example, Mr. Obama’s most far-reaching
achievement in the legislative process was passage of the Health Care Reform Act
and this forward looking and comprehensive economic move was designed to provide
medical treatment for particularly an ever-widening population of Americans who
had/have  no health insurance. We
saw the reaction as this riled Republicans and especially that emerging “Tea
Party” movement that skillfully used the Debt Ceiling issue as a weapon in the
arsenal of their “Stop Obama” strategy while protecting the wealthy who had
already gotten a large slice of the pie in December’s “Bush Tax Cuts” renewal.
Trapped in a pact, the Tea Party” did not seem to care they were in fact holding
America not President Obama hostage.

Notwithstanding, perhaps Mr. Herman Cain was too busy
becoming successful as the Godfather of Pizza to have missed former President
Bush’s statement at one of the Al Jolson dinners where he remarked to wealthy
donor in attendance, “They call you wealthy, but I call you my base.” In this
statement, the foremost Republican of his time reiterated the party’s
relationship with the wealthy and so, while today’s Republicans and especially
the “Tea Party” may trumpet the rising debt level, they were not opposed to
getting even more tax cuts despite this development adds to the deficit they
were insisting needed to be cut. Even more important, Speaker Boehner, having
disrespected President Obama by not returning his repeated phone calls during
the “Debt Ceiling” standoff, could still boat my people “Got 98 percent of what
we wanted;” and after negotiations, the smiling Mr. McConnell gave his now
famous, “I got that Nigger” thumbs up!

Another troubling revelation President Bush made in his
Second Inaugural Address, January 2005, is that “We must work to end racism that
is still alive and well in America,” but that reality has not changed. The next
election of 2008 showed the remarkable young Senator Barack Obama proved not
only an interestingly remarkable character but one who wanted to bring profound
changes to the American social and political landscape to save America from its
seemingly impending failed state status because of unjust economic policies,
racial polarization of the nation and the great disparity between rich and poor.
In response to the visionless Republicans, young and old, black and white, voted
in overwhelming numbers to be part of the new historic movement in electing Mr.
Obama for the change that is sorely needed. The problem with such a view,
adherents of the ancient regime and mentality, particularly in having signed on
to the “McConnell Mandate” boldly mined the pathway Mr. Obama has had to tread
as he endeavored to fulfill his obligations expressed in the “Oath of Office.”
As such, the “Party of No,” in “group think” did everything in their power to
derail the Obama express.

We must remain mindful of Edmund Burke’s line from his
work, “Reflections on the Revolution in France” in which he stated, “The only
thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men say nothing.” Now, if we
accept the legitimacy of such as profound wisdom, the personal and professional
attacks on Mr. Obama that generated no condemnation from Republican “men of
stature,” therefore Mr. Burke would have argued, “There are no good men in
America!” Importantly, we must never forget, such attacks were primarily
orchestrated by Republicans such as De Mint, Joe Wilson, even Billy Crystal,
etc., nor did we hear any condemnation from good ole Herman Cain! Does this mean
he is not good? Well, that is for voters to determine.

However, Mr. Cain’s statement about Black Americans, as
the CNN Commentator Roland Martin has pointed out, is “Stupid.” Perhaps “ole
Hermano” needs to know, that the eloquent and brilliant activist Malcolm X
pointed out, the American electorate is so evenly divided between Democrats and
Republicans; Black Americans; and if you would add an alliance with “other
minorities;” can influence the balance and determine “who goes to the White
House and who goes to the dog house!” Now, having “dissed” Blacks, Mr. Cain has
probably kissed off their vote, period! Reiterating, Mr. Cain still needs to be
informed why his statement is “stupid” and counter-productive because as
indicated no one can get to the White House without the Black Vote! And even
Blacks need to fully realize the power of their vote!

So, Mr. Cain, “Welcome to the Big Leagues!” While you
certainly need a history lesson regarding your understanding of the history of
African Americans in this country and the plight of their voting history, you
yourself, if you’re lucky, will ultimately come to grips with some of the same
problems other Blacks as President Obama have encountered.  Please pay attention, the tiger you’re
riding has teeth and a tail. So, be careful.  Nonetheless, you do need to know why
Blacks have begun voting Republican and why they left that party for the
Democratic Party.

Despite Crispus Attucks’ role in sparking the American
Revolution, the prevailing ruling mindset prohibited Blacks from serving in the
military because of the notion “black men would be killing white men” in a slave
society where Blacks were deemed inferior to whites. Nevertheless, while at
first he objected, George Washington relented allowing Black service. Then the
British countered by offering freedom to any Black who served with their forces.
These recruits were later taken to Nova Scotia in Canada before finally being
repatriated to the British colony Sierra Leone in West Africa. Amidst this
conundrum, many American slave masters sent their slaves to serve on their
behalf in the war of liberation, only to have them return to their slave status
upon cessation of hostilities. This was a time when the founding fathers were
proudly proclaiming “All men are created equal and endowed by their creator with
inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In this
reality, nevertheless, millions of Africans in bondage on these shores and
elsewhere were not only enslaved but enjoyed none of those basic rights a just
god would grant! For these hapless souls, de facto and de jure African family life was hardly
recognized, liberty was denied, and the pursuit of happiness was deemed
unattainable. Notwithstanding, having 
an unconquerable spirit, profound religiosity and a humanity strengthened
by family values the slave system decried, Blacks persevered though held captive
in a brutish “state of nature” functioning through legal and religious
justification.

At the end of the War of 1812, the “Second War for
Independence” in which Blacks served in the military, many who lost their lives
were buried in a segregated Brooklyn Navy Yard cemetery. In that conflict, this
nation fought the British (our great ally today) to maintain the hard won
liberty of their Independence as the industrial revolution and internal
improvements got underway. However, after 1793, the “cotton gin” helped elevate
the institution of slavery, intensifying its labor demands, and after the 1808
outlawing of the Slave Trade and development of the Internal Slave Trade with
the attendant barbarity of an inhuman way of life, “Cotton became King” on the
backs of Blacks! As these issues unfolded, by1818, General Andrew Jackson, the
hero of the “Battle of New Orleans” in 1815, crossed into Florida to punish
Native American Seminoles who offered refuge to African Americans who had
escaped slavery and made it to their lands. Eight years later General Jackson
became President Jackson, all the while our ancestors toiled unpaid in a brutal
system that denied their very humanity, much less basic social amenities
guaranteed by the Constitution.

We know the Runaway Slave Samuel Carson served in the US
Navy during the War with Mexico in 1845-46. While “Cotton was King” up to the
Civil War years; the Internal Slave Trade enabled the transport of manufactured
humans created in unspeakable and debasing horrors on “southern slave farms” as
the nation moved forward as a “House Divided.” That callous state of affairs
brought on the clash of cultures in Civil War. The record clearly shows the
heritage of First Lady Michelle (Robinson) Obama began at this time, but having
arrived today, this makes her that great historical figure around whom so many
will rally as Blacks galvanize their heroes and heroines in defiance of
oppression and injustice.

Blacks called to serve in the Union Army, during the
Civil War, though initially denied, were exemplary in their service. In the
unfolding dynamics, President Lincoln hit the “Rebels” in their pocketbooks by
issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and paid for this with his life. That
significant Executive Decision became enshrined in the 13th Amendment
at the end of the conflict.

In seeking legislative advantage, Mr. Lincoln’s party
members, Radical Republicans, enacted far reaching legislation to “Punish the
South” in an age of great recrimination. As the Civil War victors sought to
reconstruct the nation, they strengthened the 13th Amendment by
providing guarantees for the Freedman in creating the 14th and
15th Amendments. With these actions came the Freedman’s Bureau,
founding of Historic Black Colleges, and the now earned right of
enfranchisement. However, the honeymoon of Reconstruction was ended in the 1876
election compromise resulting in southern reaction. Yet, Blacks honored Mr.
Lincoln, the “liberator,” by voting Republican because this was the party that
not only guaranteed civil and political rights but enabled the election of a few
legislative representatives whose lives and abilities were still questioned and
threatened on the way to and even in Congress. 

In that classical age of American terrorism we see the
formation of the Ku Klux Klan, Knights of the White Camelia, White Citizen’s
Council, etc. wherein Blacks became  victims of unspeakable horrors
perpetrated by “lynching bees,” subjected to tar-and-feather, intimidated,
robbed in the sharecropper rip-off and in their attempt to exercise the
franchise, Blacks were subject to literacy tests, poll taxes, property taxes,
the grandfather clause, and been victims of all manner of political subterfuges
to prevent their exercising the franchise. Yet still, Blacks remained loyal
Republicans despite the “Nadir” experience even as the Democrats regained power
in the south. As America returned to normal and advancing the industrial and
economic capabilities of the nation, little attention was paid to economic,
civil and human rights conditions of the Black man. In that age of despair,
amidst “Jim Crow” and ultimately Plessey
V. Ferguson’s
“Separate but Equal” ruling of 1896, Booker T. Washington, a
product of a historic Black College, founded Tuskegee Institute to train blacks
in the industrial arts to be able to get whatever jobs were available. Mr.
Washington had quickly recognized limitations placed on Blacks in that age and
felt technical skill was more important than intellectual pursuits. Challenging
this view, W.E.B. DuBois became Harvard University’s first African American PhD;
producing his memorable work entitled Reconstruction and correctly predicted
the main item of the 20th Century would be the question of the “color
line.”

While Blacks still remained loyal to the Republican
Party, electing white men as their national and local representatives, World War
I broke out following 19th Century American terrorist activities of
lynchings that saw more than 100 blacks murdered in 1901 alone. There was no end
to this barbarity. This was a failure of law and order under the Republican
President William McKinley (1897-1901). Next, Theodore Roosevelt (R) (1901-1909)
executed his “Southern strategy” and “executive lynching;” Then, William Howard
Taft (R) (1909-1913) insisted in a speech to Black students, “Your race is
adapted to be a race of farmers, first, last and for all times.” Here we see
evidence of Republican arrogance. Even the Democrat Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921),
who, in a classic double cross made “Jim Crow” official policy in Federal
Departments of government while some 54 lynchings were reported in 1916 alone,
during his tenure.

In all this mayhem, that same year, Marcus Garvey and the
UNIA preached “Black is Beautiful;” held conventions; he established the Red,
Black and Green flag; seeing none, he created “men of big affairs” as “Count of
the Congo” and “Duke of the Nile;” to pursue Black economic enterprise, he
launched the Black Star Line and even more important, he established the “Black
Cross Nurses” to administer to Black men on the battlefield seeking respect and
human decency.

Notwithstanding, returning home from World War I, Black
despair continued well past the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, as the
decade of the 1920s brought unprecedented prosperity to the nation while
Republicans virtually ignored Black aspirations. As all know, at the decade’s
end, the Great Depression dealt America a deadly blow, devastating Wall Street,
crippling Main Street and obscuring Back Street. From these ashes, FDR emerged
with a promise of the “New Deal” and promising as it was, Blacks flocked to the
Democratic Party banner, giving Roosevelt a resounding victory in the 1932
presidential election and since remaining the party’s most loyal supporters.
Still, things were slow to move, though the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt,
perhaps the fount of wisdom in the White House, prevailed upon her husband to
create a “Black kitchen cabinet” that was advisory; yet, concerns of Blacks

began to be heard. Still our people, leaders and all were still marginalized in
the general society but stalwarts as A. Philip Randolph advocated unceasingly
until President Roosevelt invited him and others to the White House for a
presentation and dinner. Here Mr. Randolph made a passionate plea to the
President regarding the plight of Blacks and offered some corrective suggestions
particularly for hiring in the industrial arts. The president listened
attentively, circled the room handing out cigars and finally admonished, “That
was a good presentation, now go and make me do it.” Well, from the 1941 threat
to “March on Washington” activists kept up the pressure to change America that
saw: first, desegregation of the armed forces in 1947; the historic Brown B. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas
decision; and finally Mr. Randolph handing over civil rights
leadership to Martin Luther King to lead the 1963 “March on Washington.”

Let us also not forget the roles of such great Americans
as Rev. Fred Shutllesworth, now an ancestor, as his generation paved the way in
these challenging and perilous times. Right after, President Kennedy was killed
and Lyndon Baines Johnson became the new President; and as a sign of
“continuity” effectively implemented Kennedy’s agenda for the “Great Society.”
In an age of civil rights turmoil, LBJ signed the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the
1965 Voting Rights Act, which protected black voting privileges and began a
process of political empowerment aided for decades by unrelenting support of the
“Lion of the Senate, Edward Kennedy, that enabled the Congressional Black Caucus
to emerge and today boast some 42 members achieved through the Democratic Party
compared to two newly minted Republican members of Congress.

Now, the arrogance of Mr. Cain is an insult to any party
that promotes the interests of its members in similar fashion. However, while
these numbers outdistance Black representation in the Republican Party, former
Congressman Major Owens commented on the size of the CBC in the statement: “It
is not so much the legislation that we are able to author but the fact that we
are there and could collate with others of like mind to stop some of the
frivolous legislation that is brought to the Congress to punish Blacks and other
minorities is what makes it meaningful in what we do.”

What is disturbing, Mr. Cain has begun to believe his own
hype. Nevertheless, two things should be considered. First, in the movie “In the
Heat of the Night” when Sheriff Gillespie accompanied officer Tibbs to speak
with Mr. Endicott and Endicott slapped Virgil and was slapped back in return,
despite the sheriff’s comments, Virgil responded passionately, “I just need
48-hours and I will bring that fat cat down from his high horse.” The sheriff
looked at him disdainfully and said, “My god man, you’re just like us.”

This is
probably what some Republicans probably uttered about Cain as he still continued
to believe Blacks will vote for him in unprecedented numbers in his attempt to
unseat Barack Obama. Second, we must remember, Malcolm X also said, “No matter
what the man says, you had better look into it!” This time, the man is Herman
Cain and he is not his brothers’ keeper!

“Speaking Truth To Empower.”



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