Evidently “we” do! Or so claims Touré, an essayist and cultural critic, in an interview last night on Lawrence O’Donnell’s MSNBC show Last Word. While discussing the Herman Cain sexual harassment case, Touré opined: “[B]ut, I mean, I can’t go any further without pointing out that it’s yet another blonde white woman who’s accusing him of doing and saying things that are inappropriate. The instinctual fear in America of black men being sexually inappropriate or aggressive or dominating with white women is very, very deep.”
Some of you, I fear, thought I was writing somewhat tongue in cheek in this previous post when I predicted that we would be seeing exactly these types of comments. But as I noted in that previous post, because there is no evidence, at least not yet, by which to assess the competing versions of what happened between Cain and these women, the individuals involved immediately become symbols for broader debates about race and gender. Those who join in do so usually with an agenda to push, and with little concern for what is actually known, or more precisely how much is not known, about the actual incidents. For most of the participants, the facts become secondary and who one believes become a litmus test for one’s views toward those broader issues. Once the debate reaches (or sinks to) this level, both sides dig in for an all-out public brawl fought with increasingly vitriolic rhetoric. In the end, no one wins. Certainly this debate is not helping Cain’s electoral fortunes.
Already there are signs that, although most conservatives seem less than concerned by the accusations, recent survey results indicate others are reconsidering their support for Cain. In Iowa, Cain has seen his polling numbers drop 7 points in five days, while nationally, Romney has pulled ahead of him in some polls, and Gingrich has gained as well. The RealClearPolitics poll aggregator shows Cain losing almost 5 points in the last week to fall back into a dead heat with Romney, while Gingrich has surged into a close second. All this despite absolutely no conclusive evidence that Cain has done anything wrong.
Look, I don’t mean to dismiss the importance of having a public discussion about issues of race and gender. Nor do I mean to minimize the issue of sexual harassment. It’s unfortunate, however, that this discussion has to take place in the context of electoral campaign, in a manner that sheds more heat than light on an already contentious issue, and which may render a de facto guilty verdict on Cain’s candidacy without any real evidence on which to base this finding.
Perhaps I’m idealistic, but there has to be a better way to address these issues, one that elevates conversations about race and gender rather than see it descend into the swampland of cultural stereotypes…
Ok, maybe not.