Near Chicago, Illinois, former Republican candidate for President of the United States, Herman Cain, speaks at Northwestern University about the foreign oil crisis:

NU College Democrats Co-President Lauren Izaak said although she found Cain’s dismissal of global warming troubling, she took particular issue with his skewering of some sensitive words.

While discussing the foreign oil crisis, Cain seemed to purposely mispronounce the religious follower names “Sikh” and “Shiite,” quickly adding, “Yeah, I said it,” when the audience gasped.

“I definitely understand why people felt offended,” Izaak said. “It felt oddly tied into the whole conversation we are having on campus about diversity right now.”

My sense is that this was another gaffe by Herman Cain.

However, I’m also quite certain that if Sikhs were sitting on huge reserves of oil, everyone would know who we are.  Perhaps, in a sense, it is fortunate that Sikhs have no claim on any such resources, but Cain’s confusion is another example of the misconceptions about who the Sikhs are, even at the supposedly highest levels of the land.