Lets not forget that Black people drive cars, that there are Black teenage girls, Black students, Black homosexuals, Black people released from jail for low-level drug offences, there were Black people who were unemployed and now aren’t and there were many Black people without health insurance who now have it. Point being, a lot of the ‘American’ polices and reforms help Black people as well.
I will list just how much President Obama has been doing for Black people. A list that hasn’t got enough space to mention all of the great work Michelle Obama does for Black girls, Women and people in general.
Restoring Economic Security
According to the White House, American businesses have added over 14 million jobs. This job growth has helped cut the African-American unemployment rate in half – from 16.8% in March 2010 to 8.3% in December 2015, its lowest level since September 2007. The African-American unemployment rate has fallen by more than the overall unemployment rate in the past few years, and is further below its pre-recession level than any other racial or ethnic group.
Awarded $1.2 Billion To Black Farmers
President Obama’s administration oversaw a $1.2 billion settlement awarded to Black farmers. Those of whom were denied loans and assistance by the Agricultural Dept. for decades.
Expanded Funding For HBCUs
In 2012, President Obama signed an executive order increasing funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to $850 million over the next 10 years.
However, some have criticized Obama’s speeches to Black students and people. Saying they are more like lectures that demand us to be better fathers and use less excuses for some of our lack of achievement. But why are we complaining about Obama speaking the truth? If a shinning example of just how much we can achieve can’t tell us some home truths who can? There are many Black fathers handling their business but there are also many who aren’t. As Chris Rock says why are we looking to praise the father simply doing what they are supposed to be doing.
“I take care of my kids; YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO!” Chris Rock
We need to talk to those men who aren’t handling their business as fathers.
Although, Obama has increasingly found time to empower black students. In his latest speech at Howard University Obama called for students to “be confident in your blackness”. A good leader tells you what you need to hear not what you want to hear!
Signed The Crack Cocaine Bill (Fair Sentencing Act)
Previously, the sentencing for drugs has always been unjust and unequal. Crack users are disproportionately sentenced to longer jail terms than those who use the powder form. Such, unfair sentencing practice punished Black people more severely than their white people. With the signing of the Fair Sentencing Act, though, President Obama narrowed that disparity significantly. Along with releasing 6000 people from jail for low-level drug crimes.
Graduation rates are up
“I believe the children are the future; teach them well and let them lead the way” Whitney Houston. Graduation rates for Black students increased by nearly four percentage points from 67 percent to 70.7 percent. There are many Black Charter schools with 100% graduation.
My Brother’s Keeper raised 1 Billion of Boys Of Colour
Recently, NBA fans would have seen the advert with Obama and Stephen Curry. Well, Obama launch My Brother’s Keeper in 2014 to specifically target improving the lives of young Black males. The initiative is encouraging nonprofits to raise $200 million in five years for programs focused on young men of color. However, in the first 2 years it has raised over 1 Billion for Black and Brown boys.
The Police
“It’s incumbent on all of us as Americans …that we recognise that this is an American problem and not just a Black problem. It is an American problem when anybody in this country is not being treated equally under the law.” President Obama.
However, Obama wasn’t all talk; he invited Black activists to the White House and asked them to be involved in the process of reforming the police. Which has led to body camera’s being introduced and called for Federal investigations into many Police Forces from Albuquerque, Chicago to Ferguson.
In Britain we can attest to just how long it took the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry to implement changes into the police force. It took longer than 8 years and Britain is nowhere near the size of America or suffering from it’s high gun crime rate. Blaming Obama for police shootings or Black homicide rate is ridiculous. If a person thought one man was going to change a system of racism and violence in 8 years then they were always destined to be disappointed.
Obama is more than just a president; he is cool and redefined ‘Blackness’
Obama is cool. Now, being cool doesn’t exactly physically help Black people. But in a way it helps to fight the stereotype that working hard, doing your best in school and being a family man isn’t ‘cool’. Many Black people face having their ‘blackness’ questioned for not living up to negative stereotypes, speaking eloquently, dressing formerly, doing activities or enjoying things that aren’t always synonymous with Black culture. Obama expanded what it means to be ‘cool and Black’.
Obama is obviously academic, professional but can also sing, do stand up comedy, play basketball and still listens to Hip Hop. Obama has all the traits of a statesman but can also
‘keeps it real’. Obama knows exactly what he means to people; especially to black people. You can see the joy and the magnitude of the moment each time a Black person meets him. This Funny Key and Peele Sketch embodies the love Obama shows Black people
Hope: Yes We Can is now Yes I Can
One of the biggest impacts Obama has had on Black people and all people is Hope. Yes We Can! In truth, this surge of hope has been both positive and negative. As Red says, in The Shawshank Redemption “Hope is a dangerous thing”.
At first the Yes we Can movement meant to some that ‘if WE vote for Obama then we can sit and let him save the day’. The optimism was so high that people forgot Obama was Black, institutional racism was alive and well and that it would be extraordinary for one man to dramatically change the lives of a whole nation of people. For some the come down from this high was too much to cope with. Some people felt disappointment and resentment that the election of the first Black president seemingly didn’t dramatically change America. Or did it?
Yes We Can has now become Yes I Can.
More and more people are taking responsibility for their own lives, destiny and political movements. There would be no Black Lives Matter movement without Obama. It was the fact that Obama isn’t the leader of black people that motivated some Black people to lead themselves again! It was Obama not being able to highlight police brutality or speak out as much as people wanted that provoked people to speak for themselves.
Yet, after the murder of Trayvon Martin Obama spoke at the right time with the right message “ If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon [Martin]… when I think about this boy, I think about my own kids”. Obama’s words acted as a counter argument to the media narrative that Trayvon Martin was a thug; instead of just another regular teenager; a child of America.
I believe the election of the First Black president acted as a wake up call to many Black people. Waking up to the fact that even with a Black president, America was still divided in parts, racism was still alive and well, police brutality was still ongoing, unemployment/incarceration/homicide were all still too high and Martin Luther King Jr. promise land was closer but still a dream away.
That awakening has led to more protests and more people seeking social justice. People now think:
“If we can have a Black president, why can’t we have: equal employment opportunities, an equal justice system, an equal prison system, police system where black Lives matter and media and Hollywood with diversity and positive roles for Black people.”
Obama’s election has inspired a generation to speak up and speak out, to mobilise and to expect and demand a better world that has more equality for all.
Barack Obama a good leader
The assessment of a good leader is their ability to make more leaders. Black America has far more people willing to lead in their communities and speak for their people due to the election of President Obama. Some of these people have been around before Obama was elected. Some of them are vocal in their disappointment with his presidency. However, his mere election has given them a far bigger platform to lead and influence; to the extent that it could be argued they use anti-Obama propaganda to gain more followers. For and against Obama the new leaders include DeRay McKesson, BLM founders, Dr Boyce-Watkins, Dr Umar Johnson, Dr Eric Dyson and many others.
‘Yes We Can’ is now ‘Yes I Can’. The future is each person can be the change they want to see. Black Mother’s and Father’s can say to their children with a little bit more belief that “You can be whatever you want to be”. A whole generation of children will grow up seeing the most powerful man in the world as a Black man. A whole generation of elderly brothers and sisters will die knowing they lived to see something they had only dreamed of during the hardship of the civil rights era.
Yes, Obama could have done more. Yes he isn’t perfect. But remember he is a politician not a messiah. The system is imperfect and he has done the best he can in an imperfect situation. President Obama has got us further up the mountain top and gave belief that what seemed impossible can sometimes become possible.
President Obama sums it up in his own words.
“This dream of equality and fairness has never come easily—but it has always been sustained by the belief that in America, change is possible. Today, because of that hope, coupled with the hard and painstaking labor of Americans sung and unsung, we live in a moment when the dream of equal opportunity is within reach for people of every color and creed.” – President Barack Obama
Obama Has Done A Lot For Black People And The Rest Of America Too: Here’s 10 Reason Why Obama Deserves More Appreciation
Click to expand...
