Herman Cain "almost" refused order to go to the back of the bus..."but ultimately complied."

[Amerigo Vespucci]

By DOUGLAS A. BLACKMON And NEIL KING JR.



Herman Cain at Morehouse in 1966.

When Herman Cain entered Atlanta's Morehouse College in the fall of 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. had just delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. During his first semester, four black girls were killed in a Birmingham, Ala., church bombing. Young African-Americans flocked to Dr. King's call for nonviolent action or its more radical offshoots.

Mr. Cain steered clear of the strife boiling around him. The son of a chauffeur to the former chairman of Coca-Cola Co., Mr. Cain pursued his own self-advancement with steady focus.

"I wasn't determined to make social change," Mr. Cain said in an interview. "I wanted to earn some change…I wanted to make some money."

Mr. Cain's closest brush with the turmoil of that era, based on his own recollection, was when he and a group of high-school friends almost refused an order to go the back of a bus, but ultimately complied.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204517204577042934126919646.html

[MadMaddie]

1. As so went the rest of his life as a coward

while black children, teens, adults and elderly got beat down by police, attacked by dogs, hit with firehoses....he didn't feel the need to defend those being attacked. It was all about him......getting his change.

That's all we need to know about this coward...

[Ikonoklast]

12. But he didn't fail to reap the benefits of their sacrificies.

Coward is correct.

Moral Coward.

[RandySF]

2. Yep

The GOP's black friend.

[Enrique]

3. so did almost everyone

the people who resisted were extraordinarily courageous. We can't expect all African-Americans to have been extraordinarily courageous.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

5. Understood.

And my expectation of a President is that they be "extraordinarily courageous," regardless of ethnicity, religious beliefs, gender, or any other factor.

:patriot:

[krucial]

13. Herman Cain.

you are so correct.Cain is in the same line as Clarence Thomas,and should be ashamed of himself.
There were also whites,native,hispanics and others helping in the struggle,while Cain and those like him along with the head of the FBI who saw MLK and all those marching in the streets the same as the FBI,he saw them as "Trouble Makers.

That alone should disqualify him as a Black man,from even thinking about being President.
Many lost their lives and limbs so he could have the opportunity today to think about running for president

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. True. But this guy is running for President

and I think it's fair to expect a little more character from someone who thinks he is worthy of that office. Especially a guy who talks about being the descendent of slaves, as if that makes him some kind of civil rights hero. He admitted he was more interested in "making some change" than making change. Obama gave up the opportunity to make big bucks working for a high-end law firm and instead chose a far less lucrative career as a community organizer. Cain just wanted to be successful in business and make a lot of money.

[XemaSab]

9. You would think that the fact that

his dad was drivin' Miss Daisy and HE grew up to be a successful businessman would give him SOME appreciation for the civil rights movement, but no.

It's not the lack of extraordinary courage that bothers me, it's the lack of introspection.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

10. Yep, right in line with my initial reaction to the story.

And there's nothing wrong with wanting to be in business and making a lot of money, either.

I just feel that the story supports my firm conviction that Herman Cain is not "Presidential."

Hell, I'm not Presidential.

The difference between Cain and I is that I'll freely admit it.

:patriot:

[Journeyman]

11. Yeah, but you kinda hope those who want to lead would show courage . . .

The guy doing my taxes, the woman running the local auto repair shop, my kid's teacher, the guy cooking my pizza -- understandable that any person wouldn't rise to the challenge and exhibit the courage needed to stand up to oppression, especially when it's cloaked in a very perceptible mantle of violence. But the woman who wants to be a military commander? The guy who wants to be President? You hope they may show more determined resolve in their lives, and give promise of greater courage to come.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. So of course he'd grow up to be a Republican.

And not worthy to sit on the same bus with Rosa Parks.

[Life Long Dem]

6. "based on his own recollection"

That puts an end to this story if this is coming from Cain's own mouth.

[begin_within]

8. What leadership!