This past Tuesday, the Republican Presidential Debate was held in Las Vegas. During the heated discussions, Rick Perry made an awkward, if not offending, remark to fellow presidential candidate Herman Cain, referring to Cain as “a brother”. The direct quote from the debate is as follows, “I love you brother, but let me tell you something, you don’t have to have a big analysis to figure this out…I'll bump plans with you brother, and we'll see who has the best idea about how you get this country working again.” The comments came in a response to Cain’s plan for tax reform. Perry’s jovial nature when responding to Cain indicate to me, that the comment was made without any racial prejudice or malice, but many Americans feel that Perry may had crossed the line, and his “brother” reference was offensive. Perry’s relationship with the African American community was already strained from “the hunting lodge incident”, where an explicit racial term was found carved on a rock outside a lodge leased by Perry and his family. The “brother” comments will only add fuel to the fire of anti-Perry/Republican attitudes in the African American voting block that already widely supports the Democratic Party. Perry’s spokesman defended the Governor’s actions by stating that the public had misinterpreted Perry’s definition of the word “brother.” Perry did not mean to construe any racial or negative elements in his comments but was calling Cain a “fellow brother in Christ.” Regardless of the context, I feel that Perry should have been wiser in his word choice and worked to mend his relationship with the African American community rather than alienate them.
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