Introduction
This paper discusses the persistent racial discrimination in the United States of America. It goes ahead to specifically focus on Cain Herman. It does this by using John Hartigan’s, Race in the 21st Century: Ethnographic Approaches. In this book, Hartigan explores the theme of racism and other forms of discrimination in the USA. According to John Hartigan, discrimination is the belief that one person is more equal than the other due to race, colour, tribe, language, creed, polical affiliation, place of birth, gender or age. Naturally, people are diverse. However, we may be unjustified to cling on our plurality to propel discrimination in all spheres of life. On the other hand, racism refers to the discrimination of people based on their colour. To a racist, one is believed to be superior if one is affiliated to certain race. In USA, racism is felt in all sectors of life. The Native Americans believe that they are more superior to any other race. It’s a notion that the original Americans are more superior to any other persons in the country. Therefore, they should enjoy more privileges. Even if it was declared illegal in the past century, it still persists (US Human Right Network, 21).
In this country, it has been a contentious issue since her colonialism by the British in the 17th century. As was done in other colonies, the British colonial government subjected people to a lot of injustices. Here in USA, the natives were not given rights in jobs, education, land acquisition, voting right, freedom of movement and citizenship. In fact, some minor groups like the American Jews and Latin Americans were subjected to xenophobia (Douthat Ross, 09). John Hartigan says that people should not only look at the differences between races and ethnic groups. Instead, he urges the students of ethnography to also focus on the commonalities between these groups. This is because even if we are so much different; we must share some traits. Sadly still, the practice persists. In politics, it can be used to manipulate voting pattern both in the primary and the general elections as has been witnessed in the recent past. As is written in the Hartigan’s book, people use certain areas in life to focus on their identity. Today, discrimination is still felt in the restaurants, schools, theatre halls and even in politics. This is how racism was used to outdo Cain politically. In this paper, I will look at the experiences of Herman Cain, a black American politician who is now in the limelight of the US politics.
Herman Cain, a 65 year old is an African American citizen who declared his interest in running for the USA presidency through the Republican Party ticket. He is educated: earned a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics) in Morehouse College before proceeding for Msc. in Computer Science in Purdue University. He later worked for the US Navy before becoming a pizza baron. His declaration for US presidency sparked criticisms especially from the liberal democrats. Most notably, he was accused of sexual harassment. It was alleged that he did this when he was still the manager of the hotels. However, according to him and his supporters, these allegations were polically engineered just to injure his reputation as a future US president.
During the Fox News appearance, he asserted that even if president Obama criticised him, it was not based on racial discrimination. I think this is because Obama himself is a black American. However, Cain did not take kindly the accusations of the other liberals. He insisted
that they were merely accusing him because they are racial. Cain is an African American while most of the leftists in the Democratic Party are of American origin. Therefore, this makes them feel that Cain is not in a better position to act as their head of state. To me, this does not make sense because it is the same people who support Obama as their leader. May be they are not so much comfortable with Obama. Or they believe that they did a great mistake in supporting him. So, they are projecting their satisfaction to the innocent Cain. This makes them be able to do whatever it takes to bar a ‘foreigner’ from ruling them for the next four years starting from 20/01/2013. This should not be done.
Why don’t they make such allegations to other contenders: Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, John Huntsman, Mitt Romney or Ron Paul? This is suspect because to someone like me, I think even its timing is raising more questions than answers. Why were such allegations not made earlier or to someone else? Why didn’t they complain immediately the alleged offence was made? I think there must be something untold as far as this case is concerned.
Indeed, this is a witch hunt. The use of discrimination of any form is not new in the contemporary society. It has been applied to ‘finish’ people, not only in politics, but also in other areas where people perceived to be moving to a lime light are tainted. Even if USA has advanced, this infamous activity has persisted despite the enormous efforts of human rights activists. Recently, the now USA president Obama narrowly escaped defended Obama’s criticism against Cain. However, she also affirmatively attributed the liberals’ criticisms to racism.
The democrats wanted to defame Cain just the way they have been doing it to other prominent figures. For instance, Clarence Thomas, a US Supreme Court justice was finished in the same way (Anne Coultter, 45). As argues US political analysts, race is a major dividing factor in USA. Many people have lost their chances because of this. This has made many people become disillusioned with USA politics which they claim to be reserves of a small clique of individuals. Have you asked yourself why US has been brooding dynasties like the Bush’s? This may offer an explanation.
Herman Cain and his supporters insinuated that Rick Perry was indeed a racist. Although not out rightly but with a fair degree of caution used in terms of implication rather than outright accusation. The case in point is whereby Rick Perry is accustomed to a specific hunting camp which happened to have a racial slur painted on the rock. The slur was offensive to African Americans. This was picked up by the news media and it ballooned into a controversy where as a fellow contender for the Republican nomination seat Herman Cain was drawn into the controversy. The implications for this particular event are obvious. There will be a drawback in the gains made to fight against racism. It has become institutionalized; it is too sensitive even when it’s not applicable. At the national level, such racial discussions as opposed to discussions on economic improvement, foreign relations and healthcare only serve to exacerbate our differences. Racism and the racism card become institutionalized (Kwate, N.O. et al, 23). Racism is historical in nature and both parties i.e. supporters of Herman Cain and Rick Perry may try and use it in their favour. This may be without the express knowledge or permission from the two candidates but the zeal to win may influence their campaign teams to illuminate differences and capitalise on highly sensitive issues to gain more crowd or enforce the stance of their supporters. This may be morally wrong but winning may be the objective, not morality.
Conclusion
It has become a way of American life and a way of American culture to view matters political, social and economic from a racist perspective. Racial differences do exist and may at times need to be discussed but the manner and context of these discussions especially within the media. The racism card hides and pushes aside the real fundamental aspects of American society. These values can be termed as our cultural themes. When Herman Cain hears that his first point of contact should be Rick Perry, he should express his displeasure with the hunting camp. Hence, he should confidently ask his opponent, Rick Perry to take some express action.
Rick Perry should have come out strongly and clearly against the hunting camp, not only in the media, but also in at personal level. He should have proposed measures within his own proposed structures to run America instead of simply implying that someone is playing the race card. Racial segregation should not be tolerated particularly in the modern USA. As John Hartigan puts it, the young Americans should shun away from any form of discrimination. At no one time should our diverse culture be used to justify biasness. Everyone born in a place inherits the culture of that place. Let us not inherit bad cultures that promote unequal development in the society.
The race card which has now become an infamous practice in the USA needs to change. One should not be judged based on one’s ethnicity or race. One should be judged as a unique individual on one’s capacity. This should be very much pegged on one’s manifesto to the civil society. After all, USA is the world leading democratic state. Cain, son of a maid should fairly be allowed to contest for US presidency. As is indicated by Hartigan, culture should not be used to divide people. We should emphasize our cultural dynamics in order to be able to promote cohesion in USA at all the times. There should be harmony between the races and tribes. Let the black people not be viewed as inferior and not able to do anything meaningful. The black person is equally naturally superior. This is what Hartigan advocates for in the Race in the 21st Century: Ethnographic Approach. This is what the law stipulates.
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