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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2017)
Page 8 The Skanner January 11, 2017 Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Obama Racial Legacy: Pride, Promise, Regret — and Deep Rift CHICAGO (AP) — He entered the White House a living symbol, breaking a color line that stood for 220 years. Barack Obama took office, and race imme- diately became a focal point in a way that was unprecedented in Amer- ican history. No matter his accomplishments, he seemed destined to be remembered foremost as the first Black man to lead the world’s most “ Obama’s racial legacy is as complicated as the president himself. To many, his election post-racial society. He was dubbed the Jackie Robinson of politics. Af- rican Americans, along He knows poverty. He should have done more. But I think if you look at ... all the factions that he had to deal with, he probably got as much as he could get done. So he didn’t do enough for poverty, but I don’t blame him powerful nation. But eight years later, was a step toward re- alizing the dream of a with Latinos and Asians, voted for him in record ment that spread the falsehood that Obama was born in Africa. Trump’s strong reliance on white voters was in sharp contrast to the multiracial coalition that gave Obama his two vic- tories. “President Obama represents the face of the fu- ture — multicultur- al America. Donald Trump represents the old racial order of the black-white In this Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009 file photo, divide,” says Fred- Dixon Elementary School student rick Cornelius Har- Khaliyah Davis listens to the national ris, director of the anthem before celebrations for the Center on African inauguration of President Barack American Politics Obama in Chicago. Fredrick Cornelius and Society at Co- Harris, director of the Center on lumbia University. African American Politics and Society “And for the next at Columbia University says, “President decades to come, Obama represents the face of the future there will be a bat- _ multicultural America. Donald Trump tle between those represents the old racial order of the two viewpoints of black-white divide. … And for the next what America is.” It took more than decades to come, there will be a battle two centuries for between those two viewpoints of what America to elect America is.” a Black president. It will take many numbers in 2008, flush years after he leaves of- with expectations that fice to sort out what it all he’d deliver on hope and meant. change for people of col- or. “If he can do it, I can do Some say he did, ush- it, too.” ering in criminal justice —Cheryl Johnson, of reforms that helped mi- Chicago’s Altgeld Gar- norities, protecting hun- dens public housing dreds of thousands of project, on Obama as a immigrants from depor- lasting symbol. tation, and appointing racially diverse leaders Two iconic images of the to key jobs, including the Obama presidency: first two Black attorneys The president patient- general. These support- ly bends over as a 5-year- ers say he deserves more old Black boy touches credit than he gets for his head, after the child bringing America back asked Obama if they had from the worst recession the same kind of hair. since the Great Depres- A 106-year-old Black sion, the killing of Osama woman joyfully dances bin Laden, and a major with the president and expansion of health care first lady, beaming as she that secured insurance declares: “I am so happy. for millions of minori- A Black president. Yay!” ties. They celebrate his Born a century apart, family as a sterling sym- these two visitors to the bol of Black success. White House convey But Obama also frus- the potent symbolism trated some who be- of Obama’s presiden- lieve he didn’t speak out cy, a luster that hasn’t quickly or forcefully dimmed. For many Black enough on race or push Americans, it’s not so aggressively enough for much what policies immigration reform. Obama proposed but And his presidency his mere presence in the did not usher in racial Oval Office that has mat- harmony. Rather, both tered most. Blacks and Whites be- “You can’t put a price lieve race relations have tag on that,” says Loretta deteriorated, according Augustine-Herron, a for- to polls. Mounting ten- mer community activist sions over police shoot- who worked with Obama ings of African Ameri- in Chicago’s Altgeld Gar- cans prompted protests dens in the 1980s. “If he in several cities and the never did anything else emergence of the Black for African-Americans, Lives Matter movement. just the fact that he occu- Perhaps most striking- pies the White House, it ly, the president’s suc- lets us see ourselves in a cessor, Donald Trump, different light. ... We see is seen by many as the a chance for us to fit into antithesis of a colorblind the United States soci- society, a one-time leader of the “birther” move- See OBAMA on page 10 AP PHOTO/NAM Y. HUH By SHARON COHEN and DEEPTI HAJELA, Associ- ated Press