Should African-Americans Be Thanking Obama? | New Eastern Outlook
For common African-Americans Barack Obama’s victory was a triumph and
a miracle. His triumph was the culmination of more than a half-century
of struggle to gain access to the ballot and create political space
within the once-hostile Democratic Party for a mobilized black
electorate. However, as it has been noted by MSNBC, while we prepare to
draw the curtain on the Obama era, African Americans remain well behind
their white counterparts on nearly every measure of health, wealth, education and even physical longevity.
According to the Census Bureau, as of 2014, African Americans earn 59
cents on the dollar compared to white Americans, a disparity that has
not changed much since the 1970s. According to the Brookings Institute,
black children born into the bottom fifth of household income
distribution will still be there at age 40; and even blacks born into
the middle class have a 7 in 10 chance of falling into the bottom two
quintiles by the time they are adults.
