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Fracture

Page 35

by Joy-Ann Reid


  235 “the 46-year transition” David A. Bositis, “Resegregation of Southern Politics?” Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Civic Engagement and Government Institute, November 2011.

  236 “Republicans in control” Ibid.

  238 It was a bizarre Melissa Harris-Perry, “Cornel West v. Barack Obama,” The Nation, May 17, 2011.

  240 “Take off your bedroom slippers” “Obama Tells Congressional Black Caucus to ‘Stop Complaining,’ ” Associated Press, September 25, 2011.

  That reticence rankled Frederick C. Harris, “The Price of a Black President,” New York Times, October 27, 2012.

  245 “If I had a son” Remarks by the President on the Nomination of Dr. Jim Kim for World Bank President, Rose Garden, White House, September 23, 2012, transcript.

  Chapter 10: Victory

  248 Polls showed African Americans TheGrio.com/NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, November 7, 2011.

  And there was the math Ronald Brownstein, “Obama Needs 80% of Minority Vote to Win 2012 Presidential Election,” National Journal, August 24, 2012.

  258 On the podium, Obama launched Obama Commencement Speech at Morehouse College, May 19, 2013, as prepared for delivery.

  259 “the scold of black America” Ta-Nehisi Coates, “How the Obama Administration Talks to Black America,” The Atlantic, May 20, 2013.

  260 “To expect the president to introduce” Jonathan Capehart, “Obama Can’t Win with Some Black Critics,” Washington Post, May 21, 2013.

  261 In August 2013, conservative writer Ross Douthat, “Republicans, White Voters and Racial Polarization,” Evaluations blog, New York Times, August 6, 2013.

  262 By 2010, researchers at Brown University Thomas B. Edsall, “The Persistence of Racial Resentment,” Opinionator blog, newyorktimes.com, February 6, 2013.

  264 “Our country has changed” Opinion of the Court in Shelby County v. Holder, June 25, 2013.

  Civil rights groups also noted John G. Roberts Jr., Supreme Court Nominee Profile, National Council of Jewish Women, September 2005.

  In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dissenting Opinion in Shelby County v. Holder, June 25, 2013.

  265 “Throwing out preclearance” Ibid.

  266 “We will not allow” Statement from the U.S. Department of Justice on the filing of lawsuit regarding Texas Voter ID law, August 22, 2013.

  Texas governor Rick Perry accused Hilary Hylton, “Eric Holder Takes the Fight for Voting Rights to Texas,” Time, July 27, 2013.

  “Once again, Perry said” Ibid.

  267 Perry was joined by Texas senator Senator John Cornyn, “Voter ID Protects Voter Equality,” op-ed, Austin American-Statesman, August 8, 2013.

  267 Greg Abbott, the state’s attorney general Attorney General Abbott Statement on DOJ Lawsuits Challenging Texas Voter ID and Redistricting Laws, August 22, 2013.

  “respect the call for calm reflection” Statement by the President on the George Zimmerman verdict, White House, Office of the Press Secretary, July 14, 2013.

  268 Michelle Alexander, a law professor Michelle Alexander interview, Democracy Now!, July 17, 2013.

  Civil rights leaders, including Interview with Jesse Jackson, CNN, July 18, 2013.

  “an opportunity for us not to kick the can” Edward-Isaac Dovere, “President Obama Keeps Quiet on Race—Again,” Politico, July 16, 2013.

  269 “On multiple occasions, Obama has” Janet Langhart Cohen, “After Zimmerman Verdict, Obama Needs to Speak About Racism,” op-ed, Washington Post, July 16, 2013.

  Three days after the verdict Text of Attorney General Eric Holder’s Address to the NAACP Annual Convention, July 16, 2013, Orlando, Florida.

  271 “You know, when Trayvon Martin” Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, White House, July 19, 2003.

  272 “For those who resist that idea” Ibid.

  273 “He represents the same damn stuff” The Rush Limbaugh Show, July 22, 2013, transcript.

  274 Polls, meanwhile, showed the repeat “Big Racial Divide over Zimmerman Verdict,” Pew Research poll, July 22, 2013.

  Chapter 11: Fracture

  278 Five years later, in 1998 B. Drummond Ayres Jr., “Political Briefing; Black Voters Exiting This Campaign Bus,” New York Times, July 13, 1998.

  279 On Tuesday, as protests continued Statement from President Obama on the death of Michael Brown, White House, August 12, 2014.

  282 “To be clear, I didn’t have” Marc Lamont Hill, “Obama, Can’t You See Black Anger in Ferguson?” CNN, August 15, 2014.

  The president may have disappointed members Jamie Schram and Bob Fredericks, “Law-Enforcement Head Criticizes Obama for Ferguson Response,” New York Post, August 15, 2014.

  286 “Fuck the White House” Alexander Bolton, “Ferguson Protesters Say Obama Needs to Take Charge,” Hill, August 20, 2014.

  288 “Imagine what we would feel Maggie Haberman and Katie Glueck, “Hillary Clinton Makes First Ferguson Remarks,” Politico, August 28, 2014.

  289 “By siding with the black Gates” Jamelle Bouie, “Why Did Obama Say So Little About Ferguson?” Slate, August 18, 2014.

  “twice as good and half as black” Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Fear of a Black President,” The Atlantic, August 22, 2012.

  290 “This decision seems to underscore” Congressional Black Caucus statement on the grand jury’s decision in the case of Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, November 25, 2014.

  “Which elected official disappointed” Jarvis DeBerry, “Ferguson Response Shows How Barack Obama Struggles to Be Black and President,” NOLA.com, November 28, 2014.

  297 A scant 27 percent of white Americans NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, January 14–17, 2015.

  Our political divisions were essentially racial Michael Tesler, “Donald Sterling Shows the Separate Realities of Democrats and Republicans About Race,” Monkey Cage blog, washingtonpost.com, May 1, 2014.

  298 More than forty thousand people descended Casey Toner, “As ‘Selma’ Wows Hollywood Critics, White Flight and Poverty Haunt Selma,” AL.com, January 7, 2015.

  300 “The Americans who crossed this bridge” “Remarks by the President at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches,” Selma, Alabama, March 7, 2015, White House, Office of the Press Secretary.

  302 “Just this week, I was asked” Ibid.

  The speech drew broad praise Quin Hillyer, “Obama at Selma: A Beautifully Crafted Speech,” Corner blog, nationalreview.com, March 9, 2015.

  303 “a pessimism about a present” Charles Blow, “Race, History, a President, a Bridge: Obama and Selma: The Meaning of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ ” New York Times, March 8, 2015.

  One black writer, Michael H. Cottman Michael H. Cottman, “Hillary Clinton Wants Our Vote—So Why Wasn’t She in Selma?” BlackAmericaWeb.com, March 10, 2015.

  304 Several Obama cabinet secretaries Ironically, local organizers had broken with Congressman Lewis, who organized the annual pilgrimage to Selma, over the date of the major celebration and the president’s visit. Lewis insisted that the main event be held on Saturday, the actual fifty-year anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” while the local organizing committee wanted to keep the celebration on the first Sunday in March, as it had always been. The result was dual celebrations, and a great deal of acrimony between the two sides.

  305 A CNN poll released on March 6 CNN/ORC International poll conducted by telephone, February 12–15, 2015, among a random sample of 1,027 adult Americans; released on March 6, 2015.

  306 “use the inspiration of Selma” Zerlina Maxwell, “Flying with President Obama to Witness History in Selma,” Essence, March 8, 2015.

  Epilogue

  309 “take nothing for granted” Annie Karni, “Clinton Campaign Memo: No Drama This Time,” Politico, April 11, 2015.

  311 A Gallup poll released on March 21 Frank Newport, “Clinton’s Top Selling Point in 2016: First Female President,” report on March 15–16 Gallup poll (released March 21, 2015).
r />   315 by 5 to 8 percent in the Pew Poll Pew Research Poll, “A Deep Dive into Party Affiliation,” April 7, 2015.

  INDEX

  The pagination of this electronic edition does not match the edition from which it was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your e-book reader’s search tools.

  Abbott, Greg, 265, 267

  ABC News, 159, 160, 168

  Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem (Lew Alcindor), 17

  Abernathy, Ralph, 44

  Abyssinian Baptist Church (Harlem), 69, 143, 225

  Abzug, Bella, 34

  ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), 91, 320

  Adams, John, 172

  Adams, John Quincy, 172

  Advancement Project, 266

  affirmative action, 84, 85, 97, 169, 170, 210, 296

  Affordable Care Act, 207, 213, 214, 217–24, 247, 253, 294

  Afghanistan, 232

  Africa, Clinton’s visit to, 92–93

  African American voter turnout. See black voter turnout

  African National Congress, 43

  Agnew, Phillip, 274–75

  Agriculture Department, U.S., 73, 228–31

  Ailes, Roger, 56

  air traffic controllers strike, 43

  Alabama Democratic Conference, 137

  Al-Assad, Bashar, 280

  Alexander, Clifford, Jr., 40

  Alexander, Michelle, 268

  Allen, George, 125

  All in the Family (TV show), 26, 28–29

  American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 78

  American Legislative Exchange Council, 250–51

  Amsterdam News, 19, 20

  Angelou, Maya, 139, 333n

  Angry White Male, 80–81

  anti-war movement, 14–19, 34–35

  apartheid, 43, 48, 50, 65–66, 111

  Apollo Theater (Harlem), 143–44

  Apostolic Church of God (Chicago), 179, 180–81

  Appiah, Kwame Anthony, 62

  Apple, R. W., 53

  Arafat, Yasser, 49

  Armstrong, Louis, 173

  Arsenio Hall Show, The (TV show), 69–70

  assault weapons ban, 78, 109

  Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), 91, 320

  Atlantic, The (magazine), 36, 259, 279–80, 286

  Attica Prison riot, 35

  Atwater, Lee, 56, 158

  Audacity of Hope, The (Obama), 128

  Austin, Jerry, 51

  Axelrod, David, 128–29, 168

  Babbitt, Bruce, 51–52

  Bachman, Michelle, 219

  Bain Capital, 247

  Baldwin, James, 300

  Baraka, Amiri, 30

  Barber, William, 266

  Baseball Hall of Fame, 18

  Baucus, Max, 221

  Baumfree, Isabella (Sojourner Truth), 256

  Beach, Walter, 17

  Beatles, the, 5

  Beck, Glenn, 217, 234

  Beckel, Bob, 50

  Begala, Paul, 68

  Belafonte, Harry, 18

  Belcher, Cornell, 268

  Bell, Derrick, 62

  Bell, Sean, 281

  Benedict College, 142

  Benghazi attacks, 263, 316

  Benjamin, Rich, 273

  Bennett College, 8

  Bentsen, Lloyd, 56

  Bethel AME Church (Harlem), 106

  Bethesda Naval Hospital, 172

  Bethune, Mary McLeod, 205

  Beyoncé, 198, 253

  Biden, Jill, 190

  Biden, Joe

  presidential election of 1988, 51–52

  presidential election of 2008, 190, 215, 293

  presidential election of 2016, 314, 320

  Republican obstruction and, 206, 213

  Birmingham church bombing, 4, 256

  Black, Timuel, 111, 173

  Black Codes, 96

  black fatherhood and personal responsibility, Obama on, 179, 180–82, 256, 258–59

  Black Institute, 320

  Black Lives Matter movement, 277, 291, 317, 321

  Black Panthers, 24, 30, 42

  Black Power, 18, 19

  black unemployment, 226, 240

  black voter turnout

  1936, 8–9

  1948, 42

  1972, 35, 39

  1980, 42, 43

  1984, 39–40, 95

  1988, 53, 56–57

  1992, 71

  1994, 80–81

  2000, 95

  2006, 125, 127

  2008, 193–94, 195, 252

  2010, 235, 236–37

  2012, 248, 250, 252

  2014, 292–93

  2016 potential, 314–15

  Blackwell, Ken, 126

  Blanco, Kathleen, 122

  Blow, Charles, 302–3

  Boehner, John, 221, 305

  Bond, Christopher “Kit,” 278

  Bond, Julian, 30, 110, 126, 148, 172, 274

  Booker, Cory, 295

  Bositis, David

  Clinton and presidential election of 1992, 64, 65, 66–67

  Clinton presidency and, 88, 137

  Obama and presidential election of 2008, 194

  on racially polarized voting, 235–36

  on white working-class voters, 195

  Boston Garden, 22

  Bouie, Jamelle, 259, 286, 289

  Bowman, Barbara Taylor, 200

  Bowman, James Edward, 200

  Boxer, Barbara, 72

  Bradley, Bill, 106

  Bradley, Tom, 129–30

  Bradley Foundation, 251

  Brady Bill, 109

  Branch Davidians, 75

  Brawley, Tawana, 61

  Brazile, Donna, 135, 151

  Breitbart, Andrew, 228, 230

  Bright Hope Baptist Church (Philadelphia), 257

  Broder, David S., 36

  Brooke, Edward, 11, 13, 21, 29, 114, 116, 150

  Brooks, Gwendolyn, 109

  Brown, Corinne, 71, 100

  Brown, James, 22, 43, 61

  Brown, Jerry, 38, 64, 65, 70

  Brown, Jim, 17

  Brown, Michael, shooting in Ferguson, 276–92, 301–2

  Brown, Ron, 58, 73–74

  Brown Chapel AME (Selma, Alabama), 139–40, 302–3

  Brownstein, Ron, 248

  Brown v. Board of Education, 2, 9–10, 210

  Buchanan, Pat, 80, 93, 96

  Bunche, Ralph, 299

  Burnette, Buck, 207

  Burns, Will, 166

  Bush, Barbara, 124

  Bush, George H. W., 303, 316

  poverty rate during presidency, 88

  presidential election of 1988, ix–x, 56–57

  presidential election of 1992, 70–71

  Rodney King beating, 285

  Bush, George W., 137, 316

  Kanye and Hurricane Katrina, 119–25

  Obama compared with, 233

  presidential election of 2000, 94–95, 97, 98–99

  presidential election of 2004, 108, 113

  Selma 50th Anniversary, 298

  Ted Kennedy’s funeral mass, 217

  Tubbs Jones’s death, 187

  Bush, John Ellis “Jeb,” 96, 97, 284, 320

  Bush, Laura, 298

  Bush v. Gore, 94–95, 97

  “butterfly ballots,” in Florida, 96

  Butts, Calvin, 69, 225

  Byrd, Robert, 6

  Byrne, Jane, 46

  Cambridge Police Department, 214–15

  Campbell, Ben Nighthorse, 71

  Cantor, Eric, 218

  Capehart, Jonathan, 259, 260

  Carlos, John, 19

  Carmichael, Stokely, 15, 18, 19, 148

  Carter, Jimmy, xi, 36–41, 74, 303

  presidential election of 1976, 37–40, 57

  presidential election of 1980, x, 42, 43

  Ted Kennedy’s funeral mass, 217

  Cassell, Jack, 223–24

  Castro, Fidel, 40

  Castro, Julián, 261

  CBS
News, 14, 34, 107

  Center for American Progress, 249

  Central Burial Association, 51

  Central High Anniversary, 57

  Central Park jogger case, 60

  Chait, Jonathan, 259

  Chaney, James, 6, 7

  Chappaquiddick incident, 28

  Chappelle-Nadal, Maria, 278

  Chavis, Ben, 86

  Chicago, 108–9, 114, 200–201

  Chicago Bulls, 201

  Chicago Defender, 203

  Chicago Housing Authority, 200

  Chicago Sunday Evening Club, 12

  Chicago Tribune, 110, 167

  Children’s Defense Fund, 78, 86–87

  child tax credits, 88

  Chisholm, Shirley, 29–30, 148

  presidential bid of 1972, 32–33, 34, 42, 132, 144, 330–31n

  Chock Full O’Nuts, 18

  Chuck D, 66, 130

  Church, Frank, 38

  Church of God in Christ (Memphis) Convocation, 90

  Cisneros, Henry, 73, 85

  Civil Rights Act of 1957, 96

  Civil Rights Act of 1964, 4–7, 11, 14, 21, 147–48

  Civil Rights Act of 1968, 21

  civil rights legislation, and LBJ, x, 1–9, 11, 20–21, 24, 27, 28, 147–48, 327n, 329n

  civil rights movement, 1–8, 10, 20–21, 60, 210

  Clark, Jim, 298

  Clarkson, Kelly, 253

  Clay, Cassius. See Muhammad Ali

  Clay, William “Lacy,” 29–30, 278

  Clayton, Eva M., 101

  Cleaver, Emanuel, 58, 166–67, 219–20, 240, 278

  Clinton, Bill

  black supporters of, 58–59, 76–77, 78, 85–86, 89–95

  Democratic Convention address (1988), 58

  as “first black president,” xi, 94, 162, 303

  health-care reform and Obama, 222

  Jackson and, 57–58, 59, 63–64, 65–70, 73, 85, 88–89, 92, 93–94, 162, 205

  midterm elections of 1994, 79–84

  midterm elections of 2010, 235

  O. J. Simpson verdict, 285

  Obama comparison with, 193

  presidency of, 73–81, 84–94, 98, 310, 316, 321

  Africa visit, 92–93

  Guinier nomination, 75–77

  health-care fight, 75, 84, 85, 87, 90

  New Covenant, 85–87

  Omnibus Crime Bill, 77–78, 83

  poverty rate, 88

  welfare reform, 84–88, 102

  presidential election of 1992, 57, 62–73, 181–82

  presidential election of 1996, 87, 90

  presidential election of 2008, 147, 158–62, 192–93

  black America and Obama, 162–63

  Clyburn and, 152, 153, 158, 161–62

  convention speech, 189–90

  Joyner radio call-in, 153–54

 

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