Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain can rule out a celebrity endorsement from Harry Belafonte. During an interview with CNN’s Joy Behar that aired Monday, the legendary singer slammed Cain for saying that racism doesn’t hold Americans back “in a big way” anymore.
“Well, you know, it’s very hard to comment on somebody who is so denied intelligence and certainly someone who is as denied a view of history such as he reveals. He knows very little,” said Belafonte.
“Because he happened to have had good fortune, because he happened to have had a moment when he broke through – the moment someone blinked – does not make him the authority on the plight of people of color.”
Belafonte pointed to the disproportionate number of African Americans who are imprisoned or unemployed as proof against Cain’s statement. And he went on to say that Cain just isn’t the type of politician that the black community needs.
“The Republican party, the tea party, all those forces to the extreme right have consistently tried to come up with representations for what they call black, what they call the real Negroes,” he said, naming former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell as examples. “They’re heroes for some people. But for a lot of us, they’re not. Herman Cain is just the latest incarnation of what is totally false for the needs of our community and the needs of our nation. I think he’s a bad apple. And people should look at his hole card. He’s not what he says he is.”
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