|
|
 |
By Paul J. Balles*
7 June 2008
Paul J. Balles argues that young Americans want an end to the social, political and economic issues that have held black people back and kept them in dangerous ghettos and prisons but doubts that Barack Obama can achieve this without a Democratic majority in Congress.
Barack Obama's winning of the presidency will have more important consequences than those he's proposed as part of his campaign.
Many of his proposals sound promising and appeal to the public. Everyone except the insurance and pharmaceutical companies wants universal health care. Every car driver wants petrol prices lowered. All parents want their children to have a higher education that they can afford, and a large majority wants the military out of Iraq.
Unfortunately, the changes that Obama talks about cannot be simply decreed by a president. They require bills introduced into, voted on and passed by, the Congress. If the voting public also managed to elect a Democratic majority to the Congress, the chances of Obama ever seeing the legislation in the White House for signing will be increased.
Even a Democratic majority could not guarantee enough of the Congress would vote for legislation that might escape the attempts by lobbyists and special interest groups to fight against or water down the proposed changes.
What, then, could represent more important changes resulting from an Obama presidency – changes that haven't even been mentioned by Obama, his staff, advisors and the media?
The answer to that can be found in the the answer to another question: why have so many young people gone to the primary polls to nominate the first-ever African American candidate for the presidency?
Think for a moment of the present conditions of black people in America. Then ask the question: how far could an intelligent black person go in a predominantly white society? Until now, there has been no one who could reach the top.
Based on studies by Professor Oscar Barbarin of the University of North Carolina,
African Americans have improved their social and economic
standing significantly since the Civil Rights Movement, and recent
decades have witnessed the expansion of a robust, African-American
middle class across the United States. Unprecedented access to higher
education and employment has been gained by African Americans in the
post-civil rights era.
Nevertheless, due in part to the legacy of slavery, racism and
discrimination, African Americans as a group remain at a pronounced
economic, educational and social disadvantage in many areas relative to
European Americans.
Persistent social, economic and political issues for many African
Americans include inadequate health care access and delivery;
institutional racism and discrimination in housing, education,
policing, criminal justice and employment; crime, poverty and substance
abuse. |
One of the most serious, long-standing issues within African-American communities is poverty. Poverty itself is a hardship related to marital stress and dissolution, health problems, low educational attainment, deficits in psychological functioning, and crime. In 2004, 24.7 per cent of African-American families lived below the poverty level.
According to the Bureau of Justice, there are more than six times as many black people in prison as there are whites. Black people represent 13.4 per cent of the population. The Census Department says black people made up 41 per cent of the nation's 2 million prison and jail inmates in 2006. Non-Hispanic white people made up 37 per cent and Hispanic people made up 19 per cent.
Thus, despite the achievements of entertainers like Bill Cosby, Ray Charles and Oprah Winfrey, or sportsmen like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Muhammad Ali, or politicians like Jesse Jackson, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, or rights activists like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, opportunities to follow in these footsteps have been few.
What makes an opportunity for a black American to reach the top so different? Whether consciously or intuitively, young America wants an end to the social, political and economic issues that have held black people back, kept them in dangerous ghettos and prisons and spawned their hatred as expressed in crime and riots.
*Paul J. Balles is a retired American university professor and freelance writer who has lived in the Middle East for many years. For more information, see http://www.pballes.com.
Copyright © Redress Information & Analysis.
All rights reserved.
|
|