"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
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Glenn Burkins, a veteran journalist, is editor and publisher of Qcitymetro.com. Opinions expressed are solely his own. Phone: 704-442-1565. Email: editor@qcitymetro.com.

Critics, it seems, are lining up to demonize GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain over revelations that he chose to avoid the Civil Rights Movement while a student at Morehouse College.

Don’t count me among the critics, though I do question the man’s character.

In a recent TV interview with Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC, Cain said that in the early 1960s, while others were demonstrating for racial equality, he chose to heed the words of his father, who admonished him to “stay out of trouble.” When ordered by segregationist bus drivers to give up his seat, the former pizza executive acknowledge, he brushed aside his feelings and moved.

Looking back on events some 50 years later, it would be easy, of course, to brand Cain a coward, a traitor to the cause, or worse.

We would all like to believe, looking back, that we would have been found on the front lines marching along side King, Evers and Abernathy. It goes without saying, looking back, that we would have stood with the brave high school children of Birmingham who flooded the city jail and dodged fire hoses.

Looking back, all of that is easy to imagine.

Reality, however, is often a different matter. Truth is, none of us knows for sure whether we could have mustered the courage to risk our lives -- and the lives of those we love -- in the face of midnight lynchings, KKK bombings, police dogs and thunderous billy clubs.

That’s what made those who did so special.

Earlier this year in Raleigh, I spoke with a noted pastor who took part in the lunch counter sit-ins that occurred in several North Carolina cities. Looking back, I asked, was he frightened?

Not so much at the time, the preacher said. But now that he is old and better understands the value of life, he added, he does wonders now where he found the courage.

Herman Cain, apparently, never found that courage. And that’s ok.

But here’s where I question his character:

Looking back, we now know how the civil rights story ended. Looking back, we now know that justice prevailed. Looking back, we now know that those who marched and fought and died would be recognized as some of the greatest American heroes who ever lived.

Looking back, we have perfect knowledge.

Looking back, most of us, it seems, would desire to be found on the moral and just side of history.

So when Lawrence O’Donnell of MSNBC asked Herman Cain whether, as a young man, he fought for the civil rights cause, the only acceptable (yet truthful) response would have been for Cain to have said: “No…but I sure as hell wish that I had.”

The shame, you see, lies not in the fact that Cain chose to sit out the Civil Rights Movement – millions of African Americans did the same – the shame is that now, some 50 years later, looking back, he seems to have no regrets.

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