He won’t be stereotyped

Who’s afraid of Herman Cain?

Hollywood loathes him. Academia abhors him. And the country’s leftist establishment is shaking in its boots.

Sorry, folks. He’s not going anywhere.

Cain is a wildly successful pizza man, raised dirt poor in the segregated South by a mom who cleaned houses and a dad who worked three jobs. Incredibly (some lefties would say irresponsibly), he blames no one for his hardscrabble upbringing.

He is plain-spoken, articulate and a Tea Party conservative. And, in a state of affairs that drives the thought police nuts, Cain, 65, the Republican presidential front-runner, is also black. This makes him the biggest threat to the left since the fall of communism.

Diversity -- of thought -- be damned.

Academia fears and despises Cain. That’s because his heartfelt belief that race is no longer a major factor in holding back people of color challenges the bedrock notion of a permanent black underclass. The ivory tower in charge of shaping young minds and, by extension, government policy, has been selling the idea of minority victimhood to America for decades.

This is what Princeton University professor Cornel West said about Cain last week:

“I think he needs to get off the symbolic crack pipe and acknowledge that the evidence [of racism] is overwhelming.’’

Incredible.

“Can you imagine if he said that about Marion Barry?’’ asked New York-based Tea Party 365 founder David Webb, who is also black. And conservative. And reviled by the left for the combination.

Those in power, he said, are addicted to black failure, which makes Cain’s upbeat message threatening to their very existence.

“They need African-Americans to stay right where they belong,’’ said Webb. “Think of all the money brought in by congressmen and women and the bureaucracies that maintain the entitle-ment control of a segment of the population.

“This is a racket! It’s a cultural criminal enterprise. And yes -- I think it’s racism. Racism is big business for these guys.’’

Hollywood wants to crush Cain like a bug because he challenges the shibboleth it’s been selling to America since birth -- that African-Americans are forever barred from the table.

Actor Morgan Freeman called Tea Party members, such as Cain, racist for challenging President Obama. “Screw the country, we’re going to do whatever we can to get this black man out of here. It’s a racist thing,’’ Freeman said. And I thought dissent was American.

Calypso crooner Harry Belafonte went so far as to doubt Cain’s blackness.

“Well, you know, it’s very hard to comment on somebody who is so denied intelligence,’’ he told Joy Behar.