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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 7, 2012)
March 7, 2012_______________________________ ^.lo rt kmh (Obstruer__________________________ Page 7 Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com. O pinion President Obama’s Positive Symbolism His power reaches far beyond office by K enneth J. C m per What has President Obama done for black folks? It’s a skep tical question I’ve heard more than once, usually from black people with a strong activist bent. Others with a similar outlook have dismissed the “symbolism” of him being the first black president, another way of say ing he hasn’t done much of any thing for African Americans. This sense of disappointment in Obama springs from the high expec tations that his 2008 cam paign stoked, the economy’s slow come back and the politics of race, which has him so hemmed in he’s wary of appearing to favor black people over other Americans. From having covered W ashing ton for a dozen years, I knew the expectations were unrealistic. By constitutional design, power is dis persed in the governm ent, and change comes slowly. He is not, after all, King Barack. The economy is recovering, not quickly enough, for sure, for people without jobs or enough work. Re cent monthly reports, though, sug gest that the unemployment rate may return by November to about the level it was when Obama took office in 2009. Abundant guilt still makes some white Americans unduly fearful that Obama will punish them for the sins of their forebears by doling out the goods to black citi zens. He still can’t talk about race much with out a media backlash. Bill Clinton was freer to talk about and do for black people di rectly. So what has Obama done for black folks, given those circum stances? A cyber-friend once raised that question to me in a Facebook chat. Since he lives in Detroit, I had a ready answer: What about saving the auto industry and the jobs of black and other factory workers in the Detroit area? A m erican carm akers are even starting to add jobs, though their w orkforces rem ain sm aller than what they were before the Great Recession, and those jobs are not as cushy as they once were. In the 1970s, I marveled at neighbors who were getting paid for doing noth ing while a General M otors plant in St. Louis was idled. T h at’s not exactly a model of American labor productivity. Then there’s health care reform, on which O bam a expended so much of his political capital dur ing his post-election honeymoon. The law will expand access to medical insurance; African Ameri cans are overrepresented among the uninsured. Once fully im ple m ented— barring a reversal in the Suprem e C ourt or C ongress— health care reform will extend and save black lives. The withdrawal of Am erican troops from Iraq has definitely saved the lives of an unknowable num ber o f black soldiers, who make up about a quarter o f the Army. They constitute a sm aller percentage of frontline troops who were most at risk, but support personnel who transport supplies and equipm ent died in Iraq too. The last item on my short list is increasing federal budgets for civil rights enforcem ent. The last Bush adm inistration had been reducing funds for m onitoring and com pel ling compliance with anti-discrimi nation laws. Restoring the en forcem ent budgets im proves the em ploym ent prospects o f African A m e ric a n s w ith o u t jo b s and strengthens the jo b security of those who do. None o f these Obama adminis tration actions— and black Ameri cans certainly benefitted from oth ers— was designed with one race of people in mind. Civil rights enforce ment, for instance, also protects others, including white women and people with disabilities. Obama has said his goal has been to help all Americans, not any one group in particular. Some black skep tics may hear echoes of the “trickle down theory.” The president, how ever, is doing something different than, say, Ronald Reagan. Obama clearly believes in government ac tion to stimulate the economy, rather than putting faith in the mythical infallibility of the market. Dismissing the symbolism of the Obama presidency seems to me a strange attitude coming from any black folks, who are quick to de nounce symbolism that demeans or defam es an entire people. Do Obama’s black critics believe in the power of negative symbolism but not positive symbolism? Besides being chief executive and commander in chief, a president is the head of state, a living symbol of the nation’s values. Obama being a devoted father who prefers to spend time with his young daugh ters rather than party on the W ash ington social circuit has the sym bolic power to perhaps increase the formation of black families— one factor behind African Americans having a higher poverty rate and accumulating less wealth. Barack and Michelle Obama have embraced black culture— bringing entertainers to the White House and hanging visual art on its walls. Those practices add symbolic value to the creations of black artists and have the potential to enhance their market value. As president, Obama has real powers assigned in the Constitu tion. But his place as the country’s elected leader has symbolic power that reaches far beyond the con fines of government. Too much of U.S. history has been constructed on the subordi nation of African Americans, with their “place” confined to the bot tom. By rising to the top, Obama has subverted that order. President Obama has executive power and symbolic power. He has exercised both to the benefit of Af rican Americans— indeed, all Ameri cans. Kenneth J. Cooper, a Pulitzer P rize-w in n in g jo u rn a list, is a freelancer based in Boston. Unhealthy Perspectives on Sexual Health Ignorance is not bliss by A nn L. H anson Yesterday, as I was preparing for work, I heard a female TV anchorperson m ake the statement: “The availability of contra ception often times leads to un healthy behavior and problems.” Later on in the same day, the media was awash with pictures of an all-male panel in the House of Rep resentatives giving testimony on contraception. And, if this wasn’t enough, a wealthy supporter of one of the presidential candidates made a ‘joke’ about how contraception was cheap in his day: “The ‘gals’ just put an aspirin between their knees.” R ed u cin g issu es re la te d to women’s (and men’s) health to pithy sound-bites or a provocative pic ture does not make for a healthy perspective on sexual health. If I had the opportunity.to talk to the people involved in the aforementioned situations, here is what I might say: Female TV anchorperson: Unhealthy sexual behavior does result in a multitude of prob lems. However, I contend that the availability of contraception is not the greatest cause of these prob lems. It’s been my experience that lack of comprehensive education about sexuality, including knowl edge of what constitutes a healthy relationship for people of all ages, is a larger cause. I know you have a teen-age daughter. She is bom barded by sexual images and misin formation countless times a day. Share your values with her. You want her to make choices based on education rather than ignorance, right? All-male panel in the House of Representatives: The overwhelming majority of women in the United States, 97 per cent, use a modem method of con traception during their reproduc tive years. The average woman who wants two children will spend five years trying to become or being pregnant and 20 years trying to avoid pregnancy. Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Family planning helps to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions. How dare you as sume to know what is right for me! A spirin-betw een-your-knees- man: Don’t you realize that what you said is not funny? You have hun dreds of millions of dollars and can well afford to access any health care need for anyone in your family. Millions of women do not have af fordable health care and can benefit from contraceptives. It may be cheap for you, but you are privileged. And, men are equally responsible for en gaging in a sexual act that may result in conception. We must be aware that sound bites and pictures that reflect an individual’s belief may be contrary to our own values, feelings and ex periences. As a multi-racial, multi cultural, and multi-faith country, we need to value our common good; however, one set of religious beliefs and values should not be imposed on everyone. Human sexuality is a complex subject. Comprehensive sexuality education is the antidote to the edu cation that comes in sound-bites. We owe it to ourselves, our chil dren, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, our world. Ann L. Hanson is minister fo r sexuality education and justice fo r the United Church o f Christ. 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