Just a few months ago, both black and white people were questioning Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s “blackness.” That is to say, black people wanted to know if he was going to help black people and white people wanted to know if he was going to help black people exclusively. This is yet to be seen as the presidential election has not happened.
However, what does Obama’s presidency mean to poor black people who live under the decimation of structural racism and economic exploitation? What has Obama said that gets to the root of the problem facing African Americans? What solutions has he proposed to uplift the black community? Is it in black people’s interests to believe in Obama’s rhetoric of change and hope? Perhaps this is asking too much from a politician who has to appeal to white nationalists in order to be elected.
Perhaps a new paradigm is needed to create change for black people: A paradigm composed of an adequate critique of American liberal democracy, a “real” conception of what the people need and some form of black nationalism that is not idealistic or exclusive, but is practical for the needs of the people.
In the meantime, something needs to be done to begin reversing the plethora of problems within the black community including the prison industrial complex, where there are 818,900 black males in prison compared to 802,000 black males in college; poverty; joblessness; police brutality and HIV/AIDS — the second leading cause of death among black women ages 18-24 . Obama is at best the default choice of change for black America. However, the question remains: What else do poor black people have?
Kyle Mays
African American and African studies doctoral student
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