A good friend of mine (David Bridges) showed me an article titled "The Price of a Black President" by Fredrick C. Harris (http://mobile.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/opinion/sunday/the-price-of-a-black-president.xml). In it, the author addresses the lack of criticism that seems to be apparent among the majority of Black voters that support him. The point that stuck out to me was this when he wrote:
"... for those who had seen in President Obama's election the culmination of four centuries of black hopes and aspirations and the realization of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision of a "beloved community," the last four years must be reckoned a disappointment. Whether it ends in 2013 or 2017, the Obama presidency has already marked the decline, rather than the pinnacle, of a political vision centered on challenging racial inequality. The tragedy is that black elites - from intellectuals and civil rights leaders to politicians and clergy members - have acquiesced to this decline, seeing it as the necessary price for the pride and satisfaction of having a black family in the White House."
I agree wholeheartedly with that statement. For those who believed that "A Change We Can All Believe In" was in the making, they had to be disappointed. For those who felt like Obama was going to make everything alright when it came to racism in this country, they had to be disappointed. I wasn't.
Many people who voted for Obama (and a lot who did not) thought we were getting a President who was going to change the way Black people were viewed and treated in this country. Many thought that he would pass legislation that was going to be specifically designed to help Black people. Many can and do look to the legislation that has passed or the dialogue that has been started for the rights of gays and lesbians and some legislation and dialogue for rights for Hispanic Americans and wonder how come the same has not taken place for the rights of Black Americans. The answer may be more revealing than one might imagine.
There is no way that Obama could have passed specific legislation designed particularly for Black people. There is a fine line that a Black president would have to walk and Obama is walking that line. The aforementioned article pointed out the times when Obama spoke out in relation to issue regarding race during his presidency; the Henry Gates incident and the Trayvon Martin murder. In both of those cases, some people criticized Obama for the way he reacted, and in some cases for publicly reacting at all. As a Black man, the race issue obviously must always be on Obama's mind. There are people in this country who do not let him forget how they feel about him and about black people in general. Obama has been the most scrutinized president in the history of our country, even less scrutinized than Bush was the entire 8 years he was in office. Imagine the kind of coverage Obama would get if he went to a Baptist church in the ghetto and told the congregation there: "I'm going to do all I can to help Black people get off welfare, find jobs and live the American dream!" Of course, that would be favorable among Black voters but he would be vilified by white Americans who would think that the President is only looking to help out those who look like him. The reverse racism claims would be off the charts. Look at the propaganda that has already been put out with movies like Obama 2012 books like The Great Destroyer and The Roots of Obama's Rage. He's already been labeled as a person who hates America. I do not doubt for one second that if Obama took that hard line as far as Black people went that he be assassinated, or at the very least impeached.
But I couldn't agree more with another point Mr. Harris made. He said this in regard to Black people in "elite" positions:
"INSTEAD of urging Mr. Obama to be more outspoken on black issues, black elites parrot campaign talking points. They dutifully praise important but minor accomplishments - the settlement of a longstanding class-action lawsuit by black farmers; increased funds for black colleges; the reduction (but not elimination) of the disparities in sentences for possession of crack and powder cocaine - while setting aside their critical acumen."
He also mentioned this in regards to Black politicians:
"Black politicians, too, have held their fire. "With 14 percent unemployment if we had a white president we'd be marching around the White House," Representative Emanuel Cleaver II of Missouri, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told The Root last month. "The president knows we are going to act in deference to him in a way we wouldn't to someone white.""
Obama once said in an interview, in regards to this topic, that he's "the President of the United States". That means everyone. Obama could definitely focus on race issues more than he has, but what would that do to his perception from white Americans, the ones who still support him? Would they feel alienated? Would they agree with his stance, say, if he mentioned during his State of the Union address that racial prejudice in this country is as alive as it ever was, even in 2012? Do you remember when Michelle Obama said, that for the first time, she could honestly say that she was proud to be an American (speaking on Barack Obama being elected as the nation's 1st Black President)? Do you hear the critics that call Obama 'the Food Stamp President' and those that say he makes it easier for Black Americans to stay on welfare and to stay out of work with extended unemployment benefits? Barack Obama knows the fine line he has to walk to show white America that he is not just a Black President for Black people. He's in a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't situation. Unfortunately, his attempt at neutrality on this issue has alienated quite a few Black American's. The funny thing is, it is not the poor Black Americans whom the elite Black Americans say are feeling disenfranchised. It is some of these elite Black Americans who feel Obama isn't doing enough for the poor, as these elites sit back and do nothing as well.
The past Presidents who weighed in on race relations in this country had one obvious advantage over President Obama; they were all white. The majority of the country looked just like them and regardless of political affiliations, most Americans had no problem taking direction, advice or suggestions from them. But over the past four years, this new anti-government movement has taken shape and I find it absolutely not a coincidence that this movement surfaced immediately after Obama's election into office. No one (hardly) mentioned that government had too much of a role in the lives of Americans while George W. Bush was leading us to a purposeless war in pursuit of Saddam Hussein due to a vendetta Bush had against the Iraqi dictator. So it just seems like this 'question of leadership' has more to do about Obama being Black than anything else. It is that dynamic that puts Obama in between the proverbial 'rock and a hard place' when it comes to the issue of race, and the Black voter. It seems the price that Black Americans are paying to be able to say that we saw a Black president in our lifetime is not that we don't have a Black voice speaking for us. It is that the election of Black president (and hopefully, his re-election) has done nothing to improve race relations in this country, in this 21st Century. It, really, has set the issue back a bit. And that cannot be blamed on Barack Obama, at all.
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