Herman Cain, the African-American Republican candidate from my hometown Atlanta, is seeking the GOP nomination for president of the United States. At the time this column was written, Cain, depending on what poll you saw, was either first or second in the race for the top spot in the upcoming 2012 elections.
Recently, he got a huge amount of publicity for suggesting that the millions of protesters and supporters of the Occupy Wall Street movement quit being lazy, stop protesting, pack up their tents and go out and find themselves a job.
Why? Because America’s insensitive, unconcerned and greedy stock brokers, beast bankers and devilish money changers have never given a damn about poor, oppressed and exploited citizens and they never will. The people have to depend on themselves for their economic progress and economic survival.
If you don’t know, Cain is a master motivational speaker who has much more love for his former corporate employers, like Coca Cola, Pillsbury and Burger King, than he does for voters and ordinary Americans.
Cain can twist and turn words in his speeches just as well as some editorial writers can twist and turn words in their columns. And that is why he has become a Tea Party darling.
But Cain’s Wall Street rantings were merely designed to generate praise and campaign contributions from the industry and people who donate a ton of money to presidential candidates.
When all is said and done, he doesn’t have a clue about how to win a presidential race or how to improve America’s and the world’s economies. He won’t become president but he will sell a lot of books and be able to charge much higher fees for his babbling lectures.
Wall Street has not been the friend of United States residents but they have also not been black people’s greatest enemies. Our worse enemies have been our so-called friends.
Our enemies have been the liars who pose as our friends, who pretend they are our supporters, who act like our saviors and benefactors and, instead, trick us, mislead us, bamboozle us and pull the okey-dokey on us. Our enemies have been the Toms and Jemimas who will sell us down the river, write us up and terminate our employment to impress the devilish boss, even though the devil will fire them just as quickly as they did us.
The slavery day, Willie Lynch method of controlling black people is more influential on our lives today than Wall Street ever has been or ever will be. Satan and his evil forces are constantly trying to divide and conquer us in business, in politics, in education and in health care and in many other ways.
African Americans will turn on each other far more than any other race of people do to each other.
We’re afraid to hire each other but not afraid to fire each other.
We love to sell to each other but we don’t want to buy from each other.
We love to hate and criticize each other but we’re reluctant to recognize, praise and honor each other.
Black businesses hire more black employees than any other businesses but our self-hatred prevents us from patronizing and nurturing our own kind.
We won't buy a black newspaper, won't eat at a black restaurant and black candidates like Cain, and the other guy you love, won't even consider hiring a black political consultant.
We don’t need to march up and down Wall Street to improve our communities and our lives. What we need to do is stand up, speak out and fight for equal rights and justice. A protest is not the time for public sex, overused chants and songs about Kumbaya.
Lucius Gantt is a consultant based in Tallahassee and author of the book Beast Too: Dead Man Writing. He may be reached at www.allworldconsultants.net.
Photo: Lucius Gantt
No Comment