COMMENTARY | Political correctness is not Herman Cain's strong suit. In fact he seems perfectly comfortable dismissing black voters as "brainwashed" and also doesn't mind alienating Hispanics by suggesting we should just electrocute people crossing the border illegally from Mexico.
The New York Times reports Cain has been talking up a hypothetical plan to enforce U.S. immigration law with a fence the length of the Mexican border that's "20 feet high. It's gonna have barbed wire on the top. It's going to be electrified, and there's going to be a sign on the other side saying, 'It will kill you -- warning.'" He further suggests that armed militia men can take care of any intruders the fence doesn't get.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, 12.6 percent of the population is black and 16.3 percent is Hispanic. That leaves 71.1 percent of potential voters who don't yet have reason to despise Cain. What next, honky jokes ala George Jefferson -- maybe a few "gook" or drunken Indian references.
Cain says his comments were just "a joke," but not everyone finds it funny. Brent Wilkes of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda points out that "to suggest that they would be electrocuted or shot would be to treat them harsher than we treat murders or rapists."
To Cain perhaps this seems like harmless fun, but how quickly hateful words turn into hateful actions. In times of economic distress racism becomes stronger as people look for someone to blame for their misfortune. Most illegal immigrants have menial jobs. They are the maids and laborers. They do the jobs most Americans don't want.
Since they are here illegally, they are afraid to go to the police when they are robbed, and they can't complain when the boss violates the labor laws that protect the rest of us.
Cain is after all only echoing the growing anti immigrant sentiment. He is certainly not the only Republican candidate to do so, but Cain takes it further than most. Why so bold? If a white candidate said these things his campaign would be over. As a minority Cain enjoys more latitude to work outside the boundaries of political correctness.
Does he think that just because he's black, no one will dare call him a racist?
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