The Black Presidency
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13. “Transcript of President Obama’s Remarks at Year-End Press Conference (All Women Questioners Edition),” Daily Kos, December 19, 2014, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/12/19/1353032/-Transcript-of-President-Obama-s-remarks-at-year-end-press-conference-all-women-questioners-edition#.
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14. Ruth Simon and Tom McGinty, “Loan Rebound Misses Black Businesses,” Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304585004579417021571596610.
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15. When Obama came into office in 2009, the national unemployment rate was 7.8 percent, and by April 2014 it had fallen to 6.3 percent, a marked improvement. The black unemployment rate dropped far less markedly, going from 12.7 percent to 11.6 percent, nearly double the national average. For blacks between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, the unemployment rate grew from 35.3 percent to 36.8 percent. To be fair, blacks averaged 5.8 percent higher unemployment than whites under the two presidents before Obama: the rate was 5.0 percent under Bush and reached a 5.5 percent average under Clinton. Under Obama, blacks have had a 6.9 percent higher unemployment rate. Although black unemployment has always been double that of whites, it hasn’t usually been 14 percent.
The labor force participation rate offers an even more accurate and damning sketch of black job health because the prolonged denial of opportunity causes many to abandon the quest for jobs in the workforce. The rate in 2009 was 65.7 percent and fell to 62.8 percent in April 2014. For black adults, the figure fell from 63.2 percent to 60.9 percent. When Obama came into office, 29.6 percent of blacks between sixteen and nineteen were working, but by the first quarter of 2014, only 27.9 percent were employed.
When Obama rose to power, 14.3 percent of Americans were trapped beneath the poverty line, a number that rose to 15.0 percent in 2012. Obama often speaks of the middle class but barely mentions the poor, ignoring the one American in seven who falls beneath the poverty line—a dispiriting total of 45 million citizens. Forty percent of black children attend high-poverty schools, while only 6 percent of white students do. When Obama got to the Oval Office, the number of black food stamp recipients stood at 7,393,000, a number that has since risen to 10,955,000. And black home ownership slipped from 46.1 percent at the time Obama took office to 43.3 percent.
The chasm between white and black wealth has increased to 16 to 1. In Obama’s first term, the top 1 percent of citizens pulled in 95 percent of all income gains, the worst disparity since a year before the Great Crash on Wall Street in 1929. Neither does Obama’s strategic inadvertence successfully offset persistent racial bias in the marketplace. The Justice Department in 2012 struck a $175 million settlement with Wells Fargo & Co., charging that the company had steered approximately four thousand black and Latino borrowers into subprime mortgages, when non-Latino whites with similar credit profiles received prime loans. The company charged approximately thirty thousand minorities higher fees than whites, too. The Justice Department also negotiated the largest-ever fair-lending settlement with Bank of America in 2011 for $335 million. Bank of America’s mortgage unit, Countrywide Financial, had charged blacks and Latinos higher fees and interest rates than whites with the same credit portfolio, a deceitful practice that Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez termed “discrimination with a smile.” “Discrimination with a Smile,” New York Times, January 22, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/22/opinion/discrimination-with-a-smile.html?_r=0. A 2011 study projected that nearly one-quarter of black borrowers would have lost their homes to foreclosure by the end of the crisis; in 2012 foreclosure rates for blacks were nearly twice as high as those for whites, 9.8 percent versus 5.0 percent. This will have a deleterious effect on new black wealth creation, since entrepreneurs routinely tap home equity to finance new ventures. Because the net worth of black folk is far more likely than that of whites to be tied to home equity, blacks lost a great deal of equity and wealth when the housing bubble burst. Before the crisis, whites were already almost twice as likely as blacks to run their own businesses; the disappearance of housing wealth leaves blacks without a financial cushion to cover college tuition or unexpected expenses while depressing the market for black-owned businesses. Debbie Gruenstein Bocian, Carolina Wei Li, and Roberto G. Quercia, “Lost Ground, 2011: Disparities in Mortgage Lending and Foreclosures,” Center for Responsible Lending, November 2011, http://www.responsiblelending.org/mortgage-lending/research-analysis/Lost-Ground-2011.pdf.
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16. The Obama administration seemed poised to aggressively reduce racial segregation of residential neighborhoods after the Supreme Court decision upholding that disparate effect is a legal basis on which to judge whether a plaintiff is a victim of housing discrimination. As the New York Times reported: “The new rules are an effort to enforce the goals of the civil rights–era fair housing law that bans overt residential discrimination, but whose broader mandate for communities to actively foster integration has not been realized. They are part of President Obama’s attempt to address the racial imbalances and lack of opportunity that he says have contributed to unrest reminiscent of the turbulent 1960s in cities like Ferguson, Mo., and Baltimore, where African-Americans have clashed with police officers.” Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Binyamin Appelbaum, “Obama Unveils Stricter Rules on Fair Housing,” New York Times, July 9, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/09/us/hud-issuing-new-rules-to-fight-segregation.html.
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17. O’Reilly, Nixon’s Piano.
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18. “Obama’s Father’s Day Remarks,” New York Times, June 15, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/15/us/politics/15text-obama.html?pagewanted=all.
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19. Martin Luther King, “An Address by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” in The Moynihan Report and the Politics of Controversy, ed. Lee Rainwater and William L. Yancy (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1967), p. 407; Michael Tomasky, Left for Dead: The Life, Death, and Possible Resurrection of Progressive Politics in America (New York: Free Press, 1996), p. 104.
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20. Rebekah Levine Coley and Bethany L. Medeiros, “Reciprocal Longitudinal Relations Between Nonresident Father Involvement and Adolescent Delinquency,” Child Development 878, no. 1 (January–February 2007): 132–147. Also see Daphne C. Hernandez and Rebekah Levine Coley, “Measuring Father Involvement Within Low-Income Families: Who Is a Reliable and Valid Reporter?,” Parenting 7, no. 1 (2007): 69–97.
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21. Eddie Stone, Jesse Jackson: A Biography (Los Angeles: Holloway House, 1989), p. 137.
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22. Kathleen Hennessey, “In Chicago, Obama Stresses Community, Family in Curbing Violence,” Los Angeles Times, February 15, 2013, http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/15/news/la-pn-obama-chicago-preventing-violence-20130215.
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23. The Melissa Harris-Perry Show, MSNBC, February 17, 2013, http://www.nbcnews.com/id/50858848/ns/msnbc/t/melissa-harris-perry-show-sunday-february-th/#.Vez_iuvdVJ0.
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24. “Remarks by the President at Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Annual Phoenix Awards Dinner,” September 24, 2011, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/24/remarks-president-congressional-black-caucus-foundation-annual-phoenix-a.
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25. Mackenzie Weinger, “Waters: Obama Remarks ‘Curious,’” Politico, September 26, 2011, http://www.politico.com/story/2011/09/waters-obama-remarks-curious-064405.
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26. “Transcript: Obama’s Commencement Speech at Morehouse College,” Wall Street Journal, May 20, 2013, http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/05/20/transcript-obamas-commencement-speech-at-morehouse-college/. Contrast Obama’s Morehouse speech with his 2012 Barnard College commencement address, in which he praised the female graduates profusely and encouraged them to persevere, in which he empathized with them for the sexism and gender limits they confronted, and in which he committed himself to fighting the problems that plagued them without scolding them in
the least: “Of course, as young women, you’re also going to grapple with some unique challenges, like whether you’ll be able to earn equal pay for equal work; whether you’ll be able to balance the demands of your job and your family; whether you’ll be able to fully control decisions about your own health. And while opportunities for women have grown exponentially over the last 30 years, as young people, in many ways you have it even tougher than we did . . . I’ve seen your passion and I’ve seen your service. I’ve seen you engage and I’ve seen you turn out in record numbers. I’ve heard your voices amplified by creativity and a digital fluency that those of us in older generations can barely comprehend. I’ve seen a generation eager, impatient even, to step into the rushing waters of history and change its course. And that defiant, can-do spirit is what runs through the veins of American history. It’s the lifeblood of all our progress. And it is that spirit which we need your generation to embrace and rekindle right now . . . Indeed, we know we are better off when women are treated fairly and equally in every aspect of American life—whether it’s the salary you earn or the health decisions you make . . . And I believe that the women of this generation—that all of you will help lead the way. Now, I recognize that’s a cheap applause line when you’re giving a commencement at Barnard. It’s the easy thing to say. But it’s true.” “Transcript of Speech by President Barack Obama,” Barnard College Commencement, May 14, 2012, https://barnard.edu/headlines/transcript-speech-president-barack-obama.
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27. Ta-Nehisi Coates, “How the Obama Administration Talks to Black America,” The Atlantic, May 20, 2013, http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/how-the-obama-administration-talks-to-black-america/276015/.
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28. “Remarks by the President at the ‘Let Freedom Ring’ Ceremony Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington,” August 28, 2013, https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2013/08/28/president-obama-marks-50th-anniversary-march-washington#transcript.
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29. Chauncey DeVega, “White America’s Racial Amnesia: The Sobering Truth About Our Country’s ‘Race Riots,’” Salon,May 1, 2015, http://www.salon.com/2015/05/01/white_americas_racial_amnesia_the_sobering_truth_about_our_countrys_race_riots_partner/; “Major Race Riots in the U.S.,” Infoplease, http://www.infoplease.com/us/history/race-riots.html; Sheila Smith McKoy, When Whites Riot: Writing Race and Violence in American and South African Cultures (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2001).
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30. National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (the Kerner Report), 1967, http://www.blackpast.org/primary/national-advisory-commission-civil-disorders-kerner-report-1967.
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31. Douglas Blackmon, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II (New York: Random House, 2008).
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32. Ben Smith, “Obama on Small-Town Pa.: Cling to Religion, Guns, Xenophobia,” Politico, April 11, 2008, http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0408/Obama_on_smalltown_PA_Clinging_religion_guns_xenophobia.html.
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33. Lisa Bloom, Suspicion Nation: The Inside Story of the Trayvon Martin Injustice and Why We Continue to Repeat It (Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2014).
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34. Amy Davidson, “If I Had a Son, He’d Look Like Trayvon,” The New Yorker, March 23, 2012, http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/if-i-had-a-son-hed-look-like-trayvon. Also see Krissah Thompson and Scott Wilson, “Obama on Trayvon Martin: ‘If I Had a Son, He’d Look Like Trayvon,’” Washington Post, March 23, 2012, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-if-i-had-a-son-hed-look-like-trayvon/2012/03/23/gIQApKPpVS_story.html.
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35. Bernard Goldberg, “If President Obama Had a Son He Might Look Like . . . ,” August 22, 2013, http://bernardgoldberg.com/if-president-obama-had-a-son-he-might-look-like/.
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6. Dying to Speak of Race:
Policing Black America
1. “Obama: Police Who Arrested Professor ‘Acted Stupidly,’” CNN, July 23, 2009, http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/22/harvard.gates.interview/; “Gates vs. Crowley,” Christian Science Monitor, July 23, 2009, http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2009/0723/p08s01-comv.html; Stephen Brooks, Douglas Koopman, and J. Matthew Wilson, eds., Understanding American Politics, 2nd ed. (North York, Ont.: University of Toronto Press, 2013), p. 255.
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2. “Obama: Police Who Arrested Professor ‘Acted Stupidly.’”
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3. “Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Abe of Japan in Joint Press Conference,” April 28, 2015, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/04/28/remarks-president-obama-and-prime-minister-abe-japan-joint-press-confere.
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4. Jelani Cobb, “Chronicle of a Riot Foretold,” TheNew Yorker, November 25, 2014, http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/chronicle-ferguson-riot-michael-brown.
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5. Transcript, “Case: State of Missouri v. Darren Wilson,” Grand Jury vol. 5, September 16, 2014, https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1370494-grand-jury-volume-5.html; Josh Sanburn, “All the Ways Darren Wilson Described Being Afraid of Michael Brown,” Time, November 25, 2014, http://time.com/3605346/darren-wilson-michael-brown-demon/; Jake Halpern, “The Cop,” The New Yorker, August 10, 2015, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/10/the-cop.
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6. Ann Petry, The Street (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1946), p. 199.
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7. “Statement by the President,” Edgartown, Mass., August 14, 2014, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/14/statement-president.
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8. Barack Obama, “Statement by the President,” August 18, 2014, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/18/statement-president.
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9. Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President After Announcement of Decision by the Grand Jury in Ferguson, Missouri,” November 24, 2014, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/11/24/remarks-president-after-announcement-decision-grand-jury-ferguson-missou.
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10. Devin Dwyer, “Obama on Ferguson: ‘I Don’t Have Any Sympathy’ for Protesters Burning Buildings,” ABC News, November 25, 2014, http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obama-ferguson-sympathy-protesters-burning-buildings/story?id=27181837.
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11. Stephanie Smith, “Bill Bratton Takes Tough Questions from African-American Leaders,” New York Post, April 4, 2014, http://pagesix.com/2014/04/04/bill-bratton-takes-tough-questions-from-african-american-leaders/.
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12. “Giuliani and Dyson Argue over Violence in Black Communities,” Meet the Press, November 23, 2014, http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/giuliani-dyson-argue-over-violence-black-communities-n254431.
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13. “Statement by the President” (on Iraq and Ferguson), August 14, 2014, https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/08/18/statement-president.
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14. Michael Eric Dyson, Is Bill Cosby Right? Or Has the Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? (New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2005), p. 142.
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15. Kevin Johnson, Meghan Hoyer, and Brad Heath, “Local Police Involved in 400 Killings Per Year,” August 15, 2014, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/14/police-killings-data/14060357/.
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16. Krissah Thompson, “Rep. John Lewis on ‘Selma’ and the Memories It Brings to Life,” Washington Post, December 25, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/rep-john-lewis-on-selma-and-the-memories-it-brings-to-life/2014/12/25/f28bab8c-849d-11e4-b9b7-b8632ae73d25_story.html; “Leaving Selma: A Documentary from the Acclaimed Series ‘Andrew Young Presents,’” http://leavingselma.com/timeline.
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17. Justin Fenton, “Six Baltimore Police Officers Indicted in Death of Freddie Gray,” Baltimore Sun, May 21,
2015, http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/freddie-gray/bs-md-freddie-gray-officer-indictments-20150521-story.html.
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18. “Sandtown-Winchester/Harlem Park,” Justice Policy Institute, Prison Policy Initiative, February 2105, http://static.prisonpolicy.org/origin/md/Sandtown.pdf.
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19. “MLK: A Riot Is the Language of the Unheard,” CBS Reports, September 27, 1966, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mlk-a-riot-is-the-language-of-the-unheard/.
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20. Naomi Martin, “Parking Dispute May Have Lit Fuse in Waco Biker Shootout,” Dallas Morning News, May 18, 2015, http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20150518-parking-dispute-may-have-lit-fuse-in-waco-biker-shootout.ece.
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21. Reverend Jesse Jackson, “Remarks at the Funeral of Freddie Gray,” New Shiloh Baptist Church, Baltimore, April 27, 2015; remarks in possession of the author.
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22. “Dajerria Becton: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know,” Heavy.com, June 8, 2015, http://heavy.com/news/2015/06/dajerria-becton-mckinney-texas-black-girl-bikini-name-assaulted-video-photo-interview-friends-eric-casebolt/; Doktor Zoom, “Hero Cop Protects Texas from Black Teenagers at Pool Party,” Wonkette, June 8, 2015, http://wonkette.com/587722/hero-cop-protects-texas-from-black-teenagers-at-pool-party; Brandon Brooks, “Cops Crash Pool Party (Original),” YouTube, June 6, 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=R46-XTqXkzE; “Texas Teen Girl Interview After Cops Crash Pool Party, Slams Her to Ground, Pulling Gun on Kids,” YouTube, June 8, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W2IbpHbopY.
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23. “Dajerria Becton: 5 Fast Facts.”
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24. Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw and Andrea J. Ritchie with Rachel Anspach, Rachel Gilmer, and Luke Harris, “Say Her Name: Resisting Police Brutality Against Black Women,” African American Policy Forum, July 15, 2015, http://static1.squarespace.com/static/53f20d90e4b0b80451158d8c/t/55a810d7e4b058f342f55873/1437077719984/AAPF_SMN_Brief_full_singles.compressed.pdf.
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