Is Obama failing the black community?

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 20:38:00 +0000

Are black elites and intellectuals cutting President Obama slack as the price we pay for having a black president? On Oct. 27, the New York Times ran an Op-Ed by Columbia University political science professor Fredrick C. Harris, author of "The Price of the Ticket: Barack Obama and Rise and Decline of Black Politics," saying that we are. He suggests that we are so grateful for this crumb of progress, we’re willing to sacrifice the greater good of the African-American community. While Harris outlines Obama’s significant accomplishments, he says that African-Americans have stagnated or declined socioeconomically in nearly every measurable way. He takes Obama to task for not explicitly addressing race often or vigorously enough.

I have to say: Harris’ thinking seems not much better than John Sununu suggesting Colin Powell endorsed Obama because they're both black; it’s a strange notion that political support should demand so little. And it's a problematic argument, that the decisions of black intellectuals and voters about whom we support and how, are always grounded in race. This implies that we consider race before we consider anything else. This implies that we think with the color of our skin and the cultures from which we rise and above all else, so desperate must we be for scraps from the political table.

Salon.com > Fredrick Harris

Is Obama failing the black community?