Words by: Anthony Browne Ph.D.
From The Source Magazine Issue #271 | 2017
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama made history as the first African American elected President of the United States of America. The campaign slogans ‘Yes We Can’ and ‘Hope’ and an agenda for change galvanized his supporters and many cried tears of joy, shared hugs and high fives or proudly wore Obama paraphernalia. Given America’s racial history, most African Americans never believed a Black man would break the presidential color barrier in their lifetimes.
Many saw the election as fulfilling the promise of the civil rights movement and representing a new era filled with possibilities for progress in the struggle against deeply entrenched racial inequality. Obama was elected during what has been termed as America’s greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Then, as now, African Americans bore the brunt of the pain. During the recession which started in 2007, African Americans disproportionately lost jobs, homes to foreclosure and money in the stock market. Obama’s campaign especially among African Americans created high expectations–but after eight years, Obama leaves office with a mixed legacy particularly on issues of race.
Many Americans became aware of a young Senator Obama from Chicago during his speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention and through his books Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. Obama represented a different kind of politician who possessed charisma, soaring rhetoric, a unique bi-racial biography, and a telegenic family that symbolized the best of African American culture. The president also embodied a sense of cool through his swagger, ability to quote Jay Z lyrics and use of hip hop phrases. While first lady Michelle Obama demonstrated her cool factor in viral videos that showed skills at hip-hop dances and through a verbatim sing-along with the rapper Missy Elliot. America had never witnessed such a display of Black cool, intelligence and humor in the Oval Office.
On the night of the 2008 election, many white commentators argued that Obama’s win heralded a new “post-racial” period in America where race would no longer be a factor in determining opportunities. In fact, they asserted that the country had moved beyond race and that the election signaled a new era of equal opportunities. African Americans, on the other hand were generally much more cautious. That America’s 400-year history of racism and white supremacy was solved through the election of Obama struck African Americans as wishful thinking at best. Perhaps a more telling indication that the country was far from being post-racial was that Obama received 43% of the white vote in 2008 and 39% in 2012. In other words, in both elections the majority of whites voted against Obama which ominously pointed to persisting and deep-seated anxieties about race and loss of status that would eventually become a white backlash.
This myth of post-racialism was immediately exposed as Americans witnessed a steady barrage of blatantly racist language, sexist and misogynistic stereotypes, memes and videos that mocked the president, the first lady and their daughters. America’s history has shown that white backlash movements—against Reconstruction or the long civil rights movement–tend to follow periods of racial progress. The reemergence of mainstream overt racism during Obama’s presidency was the latest example of this phenomenon as many whites feared losing their country. Most notably, Tea Party activists and New York real estate mogul Donald Trump promoted the conspiracy that Obama was not born in America and, therefore, not a legitimate president. These groups viewed Obama as a constant reminder that their control of a supposedly declining America was slipping away and attacked immigrants, African Americans, Muslims, social welfare spending as threats to their way of life.
Throughout much of his political career, Barack Obama held the enduring belief that white America could rise above racism and he therefore avoided discussions about their accountability for centuries-long Black inequality. In fact, one study found that Obama spoke less about race during his first term than any Democratic president in the last 50 years. This deliberate strategy surely was instrumental in his successful elections to the U.S. Senate and the presidency. But it prevented him from effectively dealing with the history and current effects of structural racism in explaining continued worsening inequality for Blacks in employment, housing, education, criminal justice, health, wealth and income. When he did discuss the plight of African Americans, especially in the first term, it often took the form of lectures that reinforced racist notions that Blacks were somehow solely to blame for the condition of their families and communities because they either did not work hard enough, raise their children properly or lacked the right values.
The emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement during the administration of a president that largely avoided issues of race was particularly ironic. The movement was in response to several high-profile murders of African Americans at the hands of police and vigilantes. The seemingly unending collection of videos and social media recordings of the deaths of Black men and women was a tragic reminder of how race continues to shape Black life. During Obama’s second term, widespread protest as well as several uprisings across the country forced the president to reluctantly discuss racial inequality in policing. Black Lives Matter activists took the lead in making the country confront the intersection of race, gender and police misconduct. Young activists made the country uncomfortably aware that police abuse is not an anomaly but rather a national pattern that continues to disproportionately impact African Americans. As such, thousands were spurred by the deeply unsettling images to engage in protest. Americans witnessed perhaps for the first time since the freedom rides, sit-ins and marches of the civil rights movement, a joining together across racial lines of a nascent movement demanding far reaching reforms against the racial double standard in policing.
African Americans have a long history of advocating that presidents address the economic and social conditions facing the Black community. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the leaders of the NAACP, abolitionist Fredrick Douglass, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, to name a few, had all sought audiences with the presidents of their time. But during the Obama’s first term, as the wealth gap increased and Black unemployment and poverty remained high, African American leaders with few exceptions were largely reluctant to publicly demand that he forcefully address the dire conditions facing poor and working class Black communities. Due to the constant attacks by conservatives and racist activists, the Black community closed ranks to support the President even as many privately wished he would do more. These leaders believed that Black concerns were being taken for granted especially as those groups who did not vote for him used protest, media campaigns, and the ballot box to compel Obama to deal with their concerns. To push President Obama to address concerns in their communities a small group of African American leaders and organizations called for the implementation of policies that would directly target the ongoing causes of Black inequality. Namely, the harsh impact of unemployment, mass incarceration, discrimination, police abuse and failing schools on African Americans. However, Obama’s infamous reply was that he was president of all Americans and not president of Black America. The president’s dismissive response to African Americans who overwhelmingly voted for him—some 95% in 2008 and 93% in 2012– suggested that they were not citizens whose concerns should be addressed. The snub came in stark contrast to the president’s treatment of other groups whose issues he would come to embrace.
The announcement of the My Brother’s Keeper initiative during his second term was arguably the only program that could be described as primarily targeting African Americans. It was designed to provide mentorships, summer jobs and other supports to African American and Latino boys. Despite the well-meaning nature of the initiative, Black women rightfully raised concerns about the exclusion of Black girls and women who were from the same families and communities and were experiencing disturbing levels of educational performance, unemployment and involvement with the criminal justice system. To his credit, in response, the president began to speak about the dire conditions that too many women and girls faced. Critics further added the emphasis should be placed on polices that close persistent racial gaps in education, employment and income rather than reforming young African Americans. The president’s shortcomings on polices that address specific concerns of African Americans notwithstanding, there were a number of accomplishments during his tenure: the Affordable Care Act provided healthcare to 20 million people; marriage equality for gays and lesbians; The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act restored protections against discrimination in pay; The DREAM Act provided a path to legal status for undocumented young people; the massive stimulus package included bailouts and money for social programs and jobs helped to reduce the impact of the Great Recession; full diplomatic relations with Cuba were restored; Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina appointed to the Supreme Court; the administration wound down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the cabinet contained the highest number of African Americans and women of any administration in history.
President Obama’s historic presidency will be debated and analyzed in the years ahead. Under very difficult circumstances he was able to achieve several major accomplishments. But in retrospect, he could have accomplished much more had he been more forceful in using the power of his office to educate Americans about the continuing importance of race while putting forth policies that attacked structures that perpetuate racial and economic inequality. White supremacy thrives in an environment that feeds on the myth that whites work harder, don’t rely on government and are more law abiding than Blacks and other groups. Obama could have started a national conversation on government’s role in perpetuating economic and social privileges. These difficult conversations would have educated Americans about their history and shared responsibility to address wrongs while laying the groundwork for substantive policies to close the racial divide. Instead, President Obama will transfer power to a man who has promised to undue his agenda. It is a sobering reminder that who holds office matters; and that major progressive changes in America occur when elected leaders are forced to respond to movements in the streets.
