Cain has spent most of his life individualizing the message of the civil-rights movement and insisting color should not play a role in modern politics. But such a view may begin to sound naive if his candidacy continues to alienate African-Americans. In the past week, Cain has had to fend off challenges from multiple black luminaries, including Cornell West, who accused Cain of coldness toward poor people, and Syracuse professor Boyce Watkins, who on CNN called him the perfect racist.
Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson told Newsweek he thinks of Cain as Jimmy Stewart in blackface. Hes Mr. Smith goes to Washington. The good ol boy you just love. Hes the black man white people would prefer over Obama, and hes the black man that is more like them and who thinks like them. He makes them feel they arent racist because they support him at this level and not Obama.
Singer and civil-rights activist Harry Belafonte, who made headlines when he called Cain a bad apple during a recent interview with Joy Behar, says its impossible to accept Cain as a black candidate with those politics. Im pretty sure African-Americans dont take Cain seriously, but Im not sure about white people, Belafonte tells Newsweek. They believe this black man is the real deal. He isnt. Anyone who says what he says isnt.
Cain has fired back at his criticsand in doing so, only inflamed the controversy. Hes been on that banana boat too long, he says in response to Belafonte, accusing the 84-year-old performer of trying to intimidate people of color who might even consider supporting his candidacy. Harry Belafonte called me a bad apple. Now he knows hes not going to shut me up. And speaking to other media outlets earlier this week, he said West had been in academia too long and was hung up on symbolic stuff.
