Uncle Herman Speaks:

[Jaron]

Cain: Racism not holding anyone back

(CNN) - Presidential candidate Herman Cain said Sunday that he didn't believe racism was a major factor holding minorities back in America, asserting instead that African Americans had a level playing field on which to advance economically.

"I don't believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way," Cain said on CNN's "State of the Union." "Are there some elements of racism? Yes. It gets back to if we don't grow this economy, that is a ripple effect for every economic level, and because blacks are more disproportionately unemployed, they get hit the worst when economic policies don't work. That's where it starts."

Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, said educational disparity and geographical separation were to blame for high unemployment rates among African Americans. Jobs numbers released Friday showed the unemployment rate among African Americans standing at 16.0%, while the total national unemployment rate remained at 9.1%.

"The gap is due to a number of factors," Cain said. "One is a differential in education. Two is a concentration of a lot of blacks in certain areas like the city of Detroit, where the unemployment rate there is 14% versus the 9.1% we have nationally. So you have a city like Detroit where they lost 25% of their population, economically they've done nothing but go down, down, down."

When asked by CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley if he thought African Americans had a level playing field, Cain said he thought most of them did, using his own experience in corporations as an example.

"Many of them do have a level playing field," Cain said. "I absolutely believe that. Not only because of the businesses that I have run, which has had the combination of whites, blacks, Hispanics - you know, we had a total diversity. But also because of the corporations whose board I've served on for the last 20 years. I have seen blacks in middle management move up to top management in some of the biggest corporations in America."

As for African Americans who remain economically disadvantaged, Cain said they often only had themselves to blame.

"They weren't held back because of racism," Cain said. "People sometimes hold themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve."

Discusssss....

[Ideologue]

So basically he just said blacks are unemployed because they're unemployable, not because of racism.  Well, I still want my pizza, so I guess I'll vote for him.

[Admiral Yi]

So basically he just said blacks are unemployed because they're unemployable, not because of racism.

No.

[garbon]

So basically he just said blacks are unemployed because they're unemployable, not because of racism.  Well, I still want my pizza, so I guess I'll vote for him.

As much as I don't have good feelings about the man, I think there is a nuance to what he is saying.  He is saying that black people aren't disadvantaged today because of current racism but rather because they have been historically disadvantaged and that leaves them in a bad place.  Continuing on his thought - racism played a role in why they were historically disadvantaged and that disadvantage has carried into today (weaker starting positions) but isn't perpetuated by racism.

[Razgovory]

So the Party of the South says that racism is not a problem?  Well, why shouldn't we believe them?

[Eddie Teach]

Party of the South

[Admiral Yi]

So the Party of the South says that racism is not a problem?  Well, why shouldn't we believe them?

You shouldn't.  You should evaluate the evidence for yourself and come to your own conclusion.

[Razgovory]

Party of the South

Which of your Senators is a Democrat?

[Eddie Teach]

 

Southern Democrats in Senate:
Mark Pryor
Bill Nelson
Mary Landrieu
Kay Hagan
Jim Webb
Mark Warner


Both parties are national coalitions. The majority of Republicans aren't Southerners and the majority of Southerners aren't Republicans.

Bah. See, Grumbler, this one successfully trolled me unlike that post by Marty you chided me for responding to the other day.

[Habbaku]

Why are you doing Raz's research for him?

[Ideologue]

So basically he just said blacks are unemployed because they're unemployable, not because of racism.  Well, I still want my pizza, so I guess I'll vote for him.

As much as I don't have good feelings about the man, I think there is a nuance to what he is saying.  He is saying that black people aren't disadvantaged today because of current racism but rather because they have been historically disadvantaged and that leaves them in a bad place.  Continuing on his thought - racism played a role in why they were historically disadvantaged and that disadvantage has carried into today (weaker starting positions) but isn't perpetuated by racism.

Well, fair enough, although I think that's pretty wrong too.

[ulmont]

I'd double-check those "majority of southerners aren't republican" numbers.

[Ideologue]

Both parties are national coalitions. The majority of Republicans aren't Southerners and the majority of Southerners aren't Republicans.

Perhaps in the sense that not close to all Southerners vote, so ~55-60%* of voting Southerners therefore cannot form a majority.

*And I'd say the value for voting white Southerners is closer to like 75%.

[Caliga]

In Princesca's family, the majority of folks whose party affiliations I know are registered Democrats, but almost always vote Republican.   The one exception is her grandfather, who is a Democrat and who always votes that way because "the Republicans don't care about the workin' man."

[Ideologue]

In Princesca's family, the majority of folks whose party affiliations I know are registered Democrats, but almost always vote Republican.   The one exception is her grandfather, who is a Democrat and who always votes that way because "the Republicans don't care about the workin' man."

He's a politically savvy man and you should listen to him.