March 7, 2012_______________________________
^.lo rt kmh (Obstruer__________________________ Page 7
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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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