President-elect Barack Hussein Obama delivered his victory speech to over 200,000 supporters in Chicago’s Grant Park on the evening of November 4, 2008. I was there. I was lost in a sea of people, all in shock to what just happened; I stood in a grassy area blocks away from the stage, watching a giant screen erected for the occasion, as an elderly black woman wept loudly nearby. It was not lost on me what Barack Obama’s election represented for so many, namely African Americans.
Barack Obama’s rise to the presidency seemed to be the prophetic manifestation of promises told generations before: chief among them, “We shall overcome!” In the months following President Obama’s election, I recall many black mothers saying something along the lines of, “my son can now grow up knowing he, too, can be president.” And while the average kid in America does not grow up to be president, that quote signaled a sense of pride, hope, and even possession — a sense that finally this country belonged to these black women and their children, too. Powerful and necessary.
Fast forward nearly eight years later and a growing sentiment has emerged within the black community charging that black Americans have not benefited from the policies of our country’s first black president. Some of President Obama’s most prominent African American critics have certainly contributed to this growing sentiment, including Tavis Smiley suggesting black people have lost ground on all economic measures under Obama, or Melissa Harris Perry requesting the president pardon more people wrongly convicted, Eddie Glaude lamenting that the black community will lie in ruin as the Obamas exit the White House, or Cornel West bombastically proclaiming President Obama is America’s first “Niggerized” president, or Maxine Waters challenging the impact of the president’s economic policies on black and brown communities back in 2011.
Given the nature of the American politic nowadays, some might question why this even matters. I would suggest primarily because of the unprecedented black voter turnout that made a President Obama even possible in both 2008 and 2012.
It also matters because one of the key functions of our country’s “democracy” is the check and balances that exist between the citizenry and government. One would expect then that given the support from the black community, President Obama’s policies would directly benefit African Americans—especially considering the community largely supported the president not once, but twice. Lastly, this matters because Barack Obama is a black man, married to a black woman from the South Side of Chicago, with two black daughters. And whether people acknowledge it or not there is a presumed allegiance between Barack Obama and the black community because of a linked fate and his professed politics during his campaign (one of equality and justice for all races and the most disadvantaged in this country). Therefore, when the claim is made and made loudly by prominent black voices that President Obama’s administration has not benefited blacks, it is worth examining.
It is important to note that there, too, have been prominent black voices that have defended or attempted to contextualize Obama’s time in the white house to sort of justify the president’s policies, rhetoric, and/or decisions on race, including Michael Eric Dyson, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Spike Lee, Chris Rock and others. But given the seeming obsession some seem to have with tearing down the president whenever possible to whomever will listen and labeling anyone who dare offer a different prospect an “Obama worshiper” or worse, there needs to be an expanded conversation focused on the facts of Obama’s presidency.
And to be clear, I celebrate informed critiques of country, being fully persuaded by the (James) Baldwin philosophy, which suggests that one’s love for country is expressed through an exercised and perpetual critique of said country. I, too, think it is necessary for all political leaders to be challenged, critiqued and held accountable —including President Obama; however, the narrative some on the left have propagated relative to the black community’s fate under this president is unfortunate and does not quite square with the facts.
What has President Obama done to directly improve African American’s economic standing?
- Increased minority access to capital – In the wake of the Great Recession, President Obama strenghtened small business administration programs that provide capital to approximately 10,000 minority-owned businesses, support outreach programs that help minority business owners apply for loans, and work to encourage the growth and capacity of minority firms
- Awarded 1.2 billion to black farmers who had been denied loans and assistance by the Agricultural Dept for decades
- Drastically cut black youth unemployment and unemployment overall - Despite recent claims by Republican National Committee that black unemployment and youth unemployment are at all-time highs under Obama, the facts show that they are down and lowest they’ve been since Obama took office.
Obama and the black/white wealth gap:
It is important to call attention to the misleading rhetoric of those like Tavis Smiley who rightfully name the black/white wealth gap is vast , but fail to contextualize that fact by also naming 1) there has always been vast gaps in black/white wealth (far preceding President Obama; at its largest in recent history under President Reagan), 2) the gap has been widened historically by trickle down economics furthered by Republican presidents (i.e. Regan 1981-1989 and George W. Bush 2001 - 2009), and 3) black wealth most recently was largely wiped out because of the housing bubble bursting at the conclusion of President Bush’s presidency.
Some of President Obama’s harshest critics even acknowledge that it is unfair to lay the wealth gap at the feet of the president. The same can be said about poverty trends for blacks, which on average, according to the U.S. census, has remained largely unchanged under Present Obama’s leadership. Poverty is often a generational measure inextricably linked to historical trends of institutional racism in America, and therefore taking 4-to-8 year measures at a time is insufficient. And, again, it cannot be overstated the impact the Great Recession had on a number of black measures, including poverty levels. With that said, it is fair, I believe, to critique the fact that black poverty in America has not largely changed since Obama took office. To suggest, though, that President Obama has failed black America because the black/white wealth gap still exists and/or due to his inability to close the poverty gap between whites and blacks that has existed since America’s founding is wildly unfair.
Other Key Policies Impacting African Americans:
- Passed Health Care Reform (Affordable Care Act) - According to TheRoot, more than 19 percent of African Americans do not have healthcare. The Affordable Care Act now provides new funding to state Medicaid programs that allow coverage of preventative services at little or no cost to patients, many directly impacting the African American community: Blood pressure testing, Cardiovascular screening, Cervical cancer screening, Cholesterol measurement, Colorectal cancer screening, Depression, Diabetes screening, HIV testing, Immunizations and vaccines, Mammograms, Obesity screening and counseling.
- Created The Civil Rights Division Of The Justice Department - From challenging Arizona for its bias against Latinos to fighting unjust state voter ID laws, the Obama Justice Department has furthered issues of great interest to the black community.
- Launched the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Task Force - “President Obama launched the My Brother’s Keeper initiative to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and ensure that all young people can reach their full potential.”
- Expanded funding for HBCUs - President Obama signed an executive order increasing funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to $850 million over the next 10 years.
- Signed The Crack Cocaine Bill (Fair Sentencing Act) - President Obama significantly narrowed the disparity between sentences given for Crack versus Cocaine, directly impacting African Americans who have historically received longer sentences than their white counterparts for similar drug offenses.
- Commuted sentences for hundreds of black prisoners - President Obama has commuted sentences for prisoners unfairly sentenced for non-violent drug offenses. (It is fair to note that there is a distinction made between commuting a sentence and granting pardon. President Obama has been largely criticized for his low number of pardons relative to past presidents).
By no means am I suggesting that President Obama has been a perfect president, although I feel confident in saying he has been a damn good one. And given the unprecedented levels of obstruction he has faced and gridlock in Washington, it should not be taken lightly how meaningful the president’s accomplishments are. There is certainly room to critique the president on his record—including the impact his policies have had on the black community. That said, I believe the growing narrative that President Obama has failed the African American community is not supported by facts.