(ThyBlackMan.com)
The legacy of slavery is immeasurable, but the best strategies for moving forward would be vigorously enforcing our anti-discrimination laws in education and job training. — Barack Obama, 2008
What do Black people want from Obama? Or, what do you think Obama is charged to do for Black people? Do you think that American Blacks will ever get their “40 acres and a mule”? Is this generation of the descendants of 
slaves stupid enough to trade financial justice due them through reparations for the symbolism of having a Black man in the White House?
To win the Presidency in 2008 Barack Obama disavowed the concept of reparations for Blacks. Black Reparations proposes that compensation be provided to the descendants of enslaved people in the United States in consideration of the coerced and uncompensated labor their ancestors performed over several centuries. This compensation has been proposed in a variety of forms, from individual monetary payments to land-based compensation schemes related to independence. Among the Obama camp, and truthfully, among Black Americans, the idea remains highly controversial and no broad consensus exists as to how it could be implemented.
So, now it’s back to politics as usual — not rocking America’s boat of institutional racism. Though he made it a point to stay away from the ‘hood’ the past couple of years, now that it’s election season Obama’s out glad-handing Blacks. When he recently went “uptown” to Al Sharpton’s National Action Network convention in Harlem, Obama and sidekick David Axelrod emphasized that “raising the Black voter turnout was a paramount task for 2012.” Referring to the large numbers of young unregistered Blacks and Hispanics that, Axelrod said: “These types of voters are critical to keeping Barack Obama in the White House a second term.”
Though they’ve done little among the Black masses, there appears to be “no change” in Obama’s 2012 approach to Black outreach. Before they unflinchingly vote for Obama’s second term Blacks have to stop letting him treat them like his “chick on the side.” The chick on the side is glad for any time she can get. She knows she is not the primary love, but is willing to settle. But, with double digit unemployment ravaging Black communities the time for settling with Obama and his non-accountability is over.
Blacks got nothing with Obama. They ask for nothing and get exactly that in return. Latinos ask him for something and they got something. Gays and lesbians got him to change ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.” Jews demanded he deal with Israel and he does, so why is it that when it comes to Blacks we are persona non grata in political representation?”
Some naively say nonsense such as “Barack is the answer to MLK’s prayers.” Economically, African Americans have benefited from advances made during the Civil Rights era, particularly among the educated, but not without the lingering effects of historical marginalization when considered as a whole. Inequalities still persist for African Americans. Although the racial disparity in poverty rates has narrowed, African Americans are over-represented among the nation’s poor, this was directly related to the disproportionate percentage of African-American families headed by single women, whose families are collectively poorer.
The median income of African Americans is 76 cents for every dollar of their European American counterparts. African Americans are still underrepresented in government and employment. In 1999, the median income of African-American families was $33,255 compared to $53,356 of European Americans. In times of economic hardship for the nation, African Americans are always “last hired and first fired,” yet we foolishly let political candidates pass on the reparations debt. Shouldn’t a discussion of the economic debt due Blacks be a part of the 2012 political campaign? Despite successes like Oprah, Michael Jordan, Bill Cosby and Obama, Blacks as a group have not reached anything approaching economic equality or equitable opportunities when comparable to whites. When it comes to real empowerment, Black Americans have to stop letting candidates play to this country’s structural racism and still get their vote.
Written By William Reed
Mr. Reed William Reed is available for speaking/seminar projects via; BaileyGroup.org.
