This week we are looking into the historical and contemporary issues related to African American politics including historical barriers, systematic opposition, efforts to gain power, representation in the American political system, and the role of the 2008, 2012, and 2016 elections for African Americans around the country (and people of color around the world). Although we will have another class specifically devoted to race and electoral politics, I would like you to specifically focus on the election of Obama for African Americans.
You should browse this report from the Pew Research Center about the 2008 election voter turnout and how it has become continually more diverse over the past 20 years.
Also if you are interested here are the detailed exit polls from 2016, 2012, 2008, and 2004 if you would like to compare turnout by various groups, and an interesting snapshot of party identification of African Americans over time.
Take a look at this remarkable (though long) article that is assigned later in the course called My President Was Black (you will be ahead for your reading later in the course), about the affect of the Obama presidency for many African Americans.
Also you may want to explore thegrio.com a site organized around the African American perspective including many interesting articles and videos on American politics and president Obama.
Then I would like to discuss issues related to any the following questions: Has the Obama presidency affected African Americans in real or symbolic ways? Has his presidency affected Whites view of African Americans? Does the Obama election effect all non-White racial and ethnic groups in similar ways? What role did race play in the 2016 election?
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ReplyDeleteReading through parts of the article, "My President Was Black," the author makes an interesting comment that many people (it seems he is referring specifically to African Americans) felt that Obama and his family represented the "best of black people." What he seems to mean by that comment is that the Obamas represented the opposite of stereotypical attributes associated with African Americans and, in a way, modeled what African Americans are actually like in America. That being said, I agree with the author that the Obama presidency affected African Americans in both real and symbolic ways. As the author as well noted, the past 43 presidents were white and it represented, for many people, that that is the way its gonna be. However, Obama's presidency symbolized that limitation to be broken and for many African Americans that was a huge step forward.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think his election effected other non-White racial and ethnic groups, because to me it symbolized hope for them that if a black president can be elected then maybe an Asian or Hispanic or Native American president can be elected. Also as seen in the exit polls, there was an increase in blacks, hispanics, and asian voters in the 2008 election, and the majority went to Obama. With the 2016 election, race played more of a negative role than in the 2008 one. As many people called him a racist based on comments he made during his campaign. For example, he called a judge (who was involved in the lawsuit against Trump University) that he was biased because he was Mexican.
I really appreciate how you explained the Obama family representing the "best of black people." I thought that was an interesting yet valid way to phrase what the Obama family meant to the African American population within the United States. Looking at his presidency from a white perspective, I think most people would fail to realize that the lack of scandals or crude behavior was more significant because the president was black. To anyone else, it would just seem like everyday business. However, were the tables turned, I do not think many far right Conservatives would hesitate to blame any of his missteps on his race.
DeleteGoing off of that, I think that President Trump's victory in the 2016 election was almost a backlash to Barrack Obama's presidency. Many conservatives were very unhappy when Obama took office, and they were convinced he would ruin the country. Even though he did nothing of the sort, I think Trump recognized this attitude and played on those people's fears in order to win. In that way, I think the 2008 and 2016 elections are very much related. Politics tends to be like a pendulum, when it swings too far one way, the natural reaction is to move the opposite way. I'm sure if Trump makes too many mistakes during his presidency, the 2020 election could produce an extremely liberal president. It all comes down to patterns in that respect.
The Obamas, as considered in the Coates piece, affected African Americans in very symbolic ways. However, I would argue that the real effects are unfortunately lacking. Barack Obama was considered to be the “crown jewel” of African Americans for many people. I think he especially inspired young black folks, considering the demographic’s turnout of his election as mentioned in the Pew Research Center report. Obama and his family showed that the American Dream is not always whitewashed. They were a symbol of the obtainable for many black folks as well as an emblem for a more progressive nation.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Obama has been a symbol of hope for many African Americans, I think that is as far as his influence goes. In terms of policy changes that help African Americans specifically, there have not been many. Arguably, a force that threatens many African American communities is the prison system. As noted in Michelle Alexander’s book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (which I highly recommend reading, it is very good) the black population in prisons easily surpasses any other race represented in the prison system. There has been no substantial prison reform brought through the Obama administration, so it is hard to truly gage the physical impact Obama has brought to the African American community. I will say, however, that Congress has just as much to do with that if not more than the Obama administration.
In terms of the 2016 election, I think race played a major role. Perhaps some white folks were disheartened by a black president, and felt the desire to retaliate in some form. Donald Trump’s campaign catered to many of these people, as well as white folks who felt threatened by the growing rate of diversity as we mentioned last week.
I agree with Margaux that the Obama presidency’s symbolic effects on America’s black population were stronger than any tangible, reality-shifting effects. Margaux also made the critical distinction that Congress shares part, if not most, of the blame. While there’s no doubt Obama also wanted to achieve the latter, he approached policy-making realistically. When Congress doesn’t represent the oppressed, radical policies that upend society and the government's systems--no matter how just--don’t get passed, even if the president is black.
DeleteOn race’s role in the 2016 election, at least in regard to the candidates, the Coates piece put it best saying,
“Pointing to citizens who voted for both Obama and Trump does not disprove racism; it evinces it. To secure the White House, Obama needed to be a Harvard-trained lawyer with a decade of political experience and an incredible gift for speaking to cross sections of the country; Donald Trump needed only money and white bluster.”
In terms of voters, however, it seems disgruntled working-class Americans who felt ignored by politicians had more of an impact than race.
Obama's presidency was inclusively graceful. Within the article "My President Is Black", the author mentions that Obama was the "best of the black people". I truly believe that this was a compliment but was not an accurate description of him. Obama is who he is because of his character, not because of his race. Obama represented a genuinely decent person and I do not think that could be dictated specifically on the color of his skin.
ReplyDeleteObama has gotten people, mostly non-whites, to get in the voting booth and give their say in who rules this country. I think this is extremely important and it is shown within the newest exit polls. Even though it is not a significant growth, it does show that it is increasing. In my opinion, I think the main reason why many whites did not want Obama in office is mainly because of fear. Many believed that Obama would work strictly for non-whites - a huge change for whites. I think that everyone can agree that this is not true and that Obama worked for all people.
In regards to the 2016 election, I think it is important to note the presidential debate and each candidate's strategy. Although Trump's words did have an impact on his likability, I think Clinton ruin her chance to win by taking this to the grave. This meaning that Clinton's crowd was based on people that primarily disliked Trump. It is important to think about how much non-white make of the voting percentage, not many at all. So, Clinton could have won if more non-whites voted.
I agree with Liana in quoting the article that the Obamas represent the “best of the black people.” At the same time I find that quote troubling in the sense that there are many other strong black leaders who are not spoken about in the same way. I think that this may be explained further in the article, “My President is Black”, when it states “Obama’s embrace of white innocence was demonstrably necessary as a matter of political survival.” Even though he had the largest turnout of black voters, especially woman black voters, he still needed to rely on the trust of white voters. In the eyes of the white voters, not necessarily restricted to solely that group, they consider Obama the “best of the black people” because when it came to race he was not making radical or even more progressive policy changes to transform the lives of groups who are affected negatively by this white privilege.
DeleteI agree also would agree with Chloe when she says that President Barrack Obama’s character out shined the color of his skin. This goes for both Michelle and Barrack; their motto of “going high when they go low” represents elegance in power when those attack them negatively. Obama “lived in a world of problems, but problems not embodied by him.” I thought it was interesting in the article, “My President is Black”, that Obama was the one who wanted to be more involved in helping those considered to be at a disadvantage.
Whether or not Obama’s presidency affected the African American community in real ways I think is very much up for debate. I think a strong message is being shown when one the lead of the Black Lives Matter Movement, Opal Tometi, refuses to meet with him at the White House to discuss issues. To me, having a leader of such a powerful movement deny a request from a President because they believe the discussion will only be surface level means a lot.
I think that Obama presidency effected all racial groups and mostly African American, Asians, Latinos. As seen in the statistics these diverse groups all voted for Obama in 2008. As for the white people, I think some were skeptical about Obama, due to African American stereotypes and being that all previous presidents were white. It was a big change for all of the people in the United States. I do think that Obama being a president effected how white and other diverse groups voted in the 2016 election. I think Obama did effect in both symbolic and in real way. I like the quote from the article, “He had an ability to emote a deep and sincere connection to the hearts of black people, while never doubting the hearts of white people”. A lot of people changed their perspective on African American people. As of 2016 election I think a lot of diverse groups did not vote for Trump due to his strict views on all other races besides white.
ReplyDeleteI think that it’s safe to say that the Obama presidency has positively affected African Americans in positive. Looking at the statistics presented from the Pew Research Center regarding the 2008 election, it is evident that because they saw Obama on the same playing field as themselves, African Americans, overall, overwhelmingly voted for Obama. Though it was not just African Americans that seemed to relate to this feeling, but also Latinos and Asians. I think the fact that racially and ethnically, Obama is a minority, encouraged these minority groups to speak up and relate to a Presidential candidate they hadn’t been able to in the past.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to the white population, I thought it was interesting that in addition to the drastic voter turnout increase for minority groups from 2004, the number of white eligible voters fell 1.8% from the 2004 election to the 2008 election. It wasn’t just because minority groups turned out for Obama and the white population didn’t as it had previously done in 2004. Obama’s victory had a lot to do with the diversification of America. There are less white eligible voters and more eligible voters of minority groups. While I don’t think this fact is discussed nearly enough, I do think that forgetting this fact perhaps played a role in the very evident voter backlash we saw this past election.
After reading these sources, it made me realize that the Obama presidency affected African Americans in a realistic and symbolic way, since African Americans felt an attach to Obama because he was black. Also the black population might felt that they were not alone when Obama won the presidency, and finally someone of a different race, not white race, was president of America.
ReplyDeleteI also think that his presidency affected in a positive way the other non-white racial and ethnic groups, because in his presidency, Obama, started to include more people of different race and ethnicities. For example, as the author of "My President was Black" stated that "Obama nominated the first Latina justice to the supreme court". and even when the author author went to the white house, he noticed a variety of races and ethnicities in the white house. These examples show that Obama was trying to be more inclusive with the other groups, while he was a president. And I think, thanks to this, these different groups felt more comfortable where they lived and maybe they did not felt excluded from the American society.
In my Law and the Political system class that I took last year, we read many excerpts from The New Jim Crow and I agree with Margaux-- it was very good! I think that Obama's symbolism and impact spans over many races and ethnic groups, as evidenced by the Pew Research Center's Findings. Voter turnout for minorities rose overall in 2008 for the Obama campaign and aided in him becoming elected. But like Margaux said, t is easy to get caught up in the symbolism of the Obama administration and forget that actions speak just as loud as words.
ReplyDeleteHowever, much like Ta-Nehisi Coates writes "Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012 were dismissed by some of his critics as merely symbolic for African Americans. But there is nothing 'mere' about symbols" (Coates 1). So, the Obama administration did not do much to help with mass incarceration but maybe him being elected into office helped spark the flame to encourage someone else who will run and make that change. I realize that's pretty idealistic of me to believe, but I believe in people's ability to inspire (such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks and Malcolm X and many other people who have inspired people after them) to create change.
I wish I could say that him being elected affected Whites views of African Americans, but I don't think I can. If you look at the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement during his administration and the continuation of racial profiling, even though the head of our nation was part of that race, I do not think that many White people have changed their tune, simply because Obama has become a symbol for African Americans around the world (and dare I say globe).
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ReplyDeleteMuch like everyone else, I do believe Obama's presidency had a strong symbolic and physical effect on all non-white races. He pushed his image as a minority leader and drove for a greater awareness of any and all race issues. I think the constant support and activity of Michelle Obama also enhanced this view as we had a strong female minority leader, and an active one at that.
ReplyDeleteI do think however, that Trump's election has nullified many of these effects and I would not be surprised if this feeling of hope fades away. Many of the minorities voiced their concerns against Trump (and many of these concerns were not resolved) and I think his election has decreased morale in most non-white races.
I agree with most of what Shy is saying by Obama being a symbolic figure to the all non-white races and actually caring all race issues. It explains why minority turnout improved during the 2008 election. Him and and Michelle showed strong leadership for this nation that created a role model image.
DeleteI strongly agree when you said that this election can cause the feeling hope to slowly fade away. Again Trump has a stronger appealing to those that oppose president Obama and his policies. Minorities do feel concern about Trump because they are going to feel once agin ignored. Of course he was appealing to the working class because they felt ignored in the last election and this what happens when one group gets ignored the other backlashes and creates a new turnover.
I believe Obama affected African Americans in a realistic and symbolic way especially when you look at younger generations. They grew up with the first black president and that will definitely have an impact on how they look at their future. The same way i believe Hillary Clinton had a huge impact on women in this country. Hillary said, “And to all the little girls who are watching this, never doubt that you are valuable and powerful and deserving of every chance and opportunity in the world to pursue and achieve your own dreams.” and although the highest of glass ceilings was not broken for women, i think Obama if not broken at least cracked it for African Americans and definitely cracked it for minorities.
ReplyDeleteNot only Black, but Hispanic and Asian voter turnout has also been up since Obama ran back in 2008. That means he has increase political activism in these minority groups which is ultimately a positive thing. When you look at how it affected the 2016 election i am not sure race played as big of a factor as the fed up working class did that thought they were not being accurately represented by "typical politicians."
I believe Obama’s presidency had somewhat of an impact on African Americans. I say somewhat because I’m not sure what lasting impact he will have, but he did indeed have an impact. In 2008 he managed to capture around 95% of the African American vote, as well as increase African American voter turnout by just a little over 10%. That alone shows he had an impact, as he was able to increase voter turnout. I view this as a symbolic impact, however, because the data shows many of these Obama supporters chose not to vote in 2016. I think if he had made a real impact, more people would have turned out to support Hillary like he asked of his supporters.
ReplyDeleteAs far as his symbolic impact goes, I think it has helped fuel various movements like Black Lives Matter. Obama gave a voice to many African American's, as his presidency was a symbol for hope and change. Many people who supported him are still fighting for change through these movements. I wonder if his lasting impact will be partially viewed through the (positive) outcomes of these movements
Obama’s presidency affected African Americans in both, real and symbolic ways. After 43 presidents, the country finally elects, its first non-white president. It took the country longer than other nations to escape its bubble, and let non-white males run the country. Ta-Nehisi Coates mentioned, “the highest office of government in the country was off-limits to black individuals, the election of Barack Obama communicated that the prohibition had been lifted”. Obama was able to convince people, of all races, to go out and vote. He then proved to America that a non-white American can manage to run this country, and succeed. He went against stereotypes, and gave the African American population hope.
ReplyDeleteThe same author cited Sinbad, a comedian, who said, “There are no black men raised in Kansas and Hawaii. That’s the last one … The next one is gonna be from Cleveland. He gonna wear a perm”. Considering those comments are for comical reasons specifically, potentially an underlying message still holds. When Obama first came into office, he represented an entire group, but after his eight year term, and his success, he is now seen as an outlier.
His presidency has affected white views of America and altered how both the country and other countries that in a sense look up to us altered their image of African Americans. Not only did he shine light on the African American race, but as well as, on other non-white racial and minority groups. Not only did he manage to get the votes to get into office, but backed up his words with actions.
From a brief understanding, one could assume that this, 2016, election was primarily due to race. That the white race was rattled by letting an African American run ‘their’ country, but it was more than just that. Trump went after peoples’ vulnerability. He was cynical with his approach, but managed to bring people together by mentioning how opposing countries are there to bring us down and take over our country. His mentality of change and opposition views, regardless of its negativity, won him the election.
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ReplyDeleteThe Obama Presidency has effected African Americans in a symbolic way, and while there may be some real effects, I think only time will tell. I think it will be decades, until we see the real impact that his presidency has made. I say this because the symbolic fact that African American children can see someone who looks like them, achieve the highest office in our country, tells them that they themselves can achieve anything. It will take time for these young children to achieve their goals, which were set in motion by the Obama presidency. I think his presidency effected some White American’s views, as he was constantly challenging their preconception about African Americans, and lead by example. While I do believe he helped change many White American views, the 2016 election results show that during his presidency many white, blue collar workers felt forgotten. This was the same group who elected Trump, and while race’s role in causing this group to feel forgotten is unknown, the Obama presidency had a role in the rise of Donald Trump.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the time young children are asked what they want to be when they grow up, and most of them have the same cliche answers. Of those cliche answers, regardless of the group of children that are being asked the question, President of the United States always comes up. All those kids who answered ‘president’ are full of optimism and hope that they could live out their dream. This optimism dies as they grow up, however, especially for young African Americans and other minorities. They’d love to be leaders of the free world but when they look at presidents 1 through 43, all they see is white males. How could they possibly maintain their sense of optimism if they can’t at all relate to the leaders that they aspire to be? How can an underprivileged black youth remain hopeful when he realizes that he isn’t part of the 1%, that his family doesn’t resemble the 2-parent suburban households that Americans have deemed ‘ideal?’ They are aware that there are African Americans in very powerful positions in the United States but none holding the title of Commander in Chief. That is until Barack Obama ran for, and won presidency in 2008. A young black man who spent the majority of his childhood fatherless, who spent his free time playing basketball a the park rather than golf at the country club. A man who wasn’t dealt the best hand in life but worked his way up to Columbia, then Harvard Law, and the Senate. He was a figure of hope for minorities, and a killer of stereotypes that many people of the United States held about minorities.
ReplyDeleteObama has helped the country progress in many aspects, one of which is race. Some would argue that race relations have gotten worse over the years, but I don’t think thats necessarily the case. There has always been racism in the United States but in modern times (until recently) speaking about race and citing race as the reason for problems in the country has been stigmatized. We have now entered an era in U.S. history where people are recognizing and vocalizing the fact that race is still an issue, and that’s why many believe that race relations in the country have worsened. Although race might have played a part in the recent election, I don’t think that it played that big of a role. The election of Trump is more so representative of people in the United States no longer wanting a typical politician in office. Politicians have gained the reputation of being sleazy liars, and Donald Trump, regardless of how unfit he is to be president, capitalized on this stereotype, and with the help of the media (and Russia), beat Hillary Clinton.
One thing that Ta-Nehisi Coates kept mentioning really struck a chord with me: Coates makes recurrent references to the type of person Obama came off as to white voters. He claims that this is what made Obama particularly well-suited to get white votes. He says that Obama was able to get elected because of type of "hybridity" that Obama had. Though it isn't explicitly stated, it appears that Coates is saying that Obama was able to succeed because he was "well spoken" and non-confrontational when it came to issues with race and racism. While Coates is happy about this, he laments that other black people who don't evince this type of personality will not be electable because of racist biases/stereotypes that white voters will be affected by. So, the problem here is that black people are easily dehumanized.
ReplyDeleteHere's a PBS article about turnout in the 2016 election that some might find useful. The idea that Clinton lost swing states because enough traditional Democrats found Trump's racially-tinged rhetoric appealing is a complex question to answer and this article offers good reason to be skeptical about the proposition.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/voter-turnout-2016-elections/
After reading the interesting article, I found it incredible that the 2008 election was the most diverse in U.S. history. I believe that President Obama had that strong impact that truly showed representation where others may have not seen it. I think that by leading by example, he can show others can anything can be possible and that diversity is key to any component in life.
ReplyDeletePresident Obama, even with all the criticism that he may have received, he still showed us how well he can work for the people and get things done. He was a beacon of hope for many and he proved us right with his determination but also compassion. While many may not have agreed of his presidency, the facts stand that he has done a superb job of voter turnout but also by climbing that ladder of success for the next generation to come.