The Obama Phenomenon: Toward a Multiracial Democracy - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0252078225 ISBN 13: 9780252078224

Verlag: University of Illinois Press, 2011

Inhaltsangabe

Barack Obama's campaign and electoral victory demonstrated the dynamic nature of American democracy. Beginning as a special issue of The Black Scholar, this probing collection illustrates the impact of "the Obama phenomenon" on the future of U.S. race relations through readings on Barack Obama's campaign as well as the idealism and pragmatism of the Obama administration. Some of the foremost scholars of African American politics and culture from an array of disciplines--including political science, theology, economics, history, journalism, sociology, cultural studies, and law--offer critical analyses of topics as diverse as Obama and the media, Obama&;s connection with the hip hop community, the public's perception of first lady Michelle Obama, voter behavior, and the history of racial issues in presidential campaigns since the 1960s.

 

Contributors are Josephine A. V. Allen, Robert L. Allen, Herb Boyd, Donald R. Deskins Jr., Cheryl I. Harris, Charles P. Henry, Dwight N. Hopkins, John L. Jackson, Maulana Karenga, Robin D. G. Kelley, Martin Kilson, Clarence Lusane, Julianne Malveaux, Shaun Ossei-Owusu, Dianne M. Pinderhughes, Sherman C. Puckett, Scharn Robinson, Ula Y. Taylor, Alice Walker, Hanes Walton Jr., and Ronald Williams II.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Charles P. Henry is the H. Michael and Jeanne Williams Chair of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Long Overdue: The Politics of Racial Reparations.Robert L. Allen is an adjunct professor of African American studies and ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Black Awakening in Capitalist America: An Analytic History.Robert Chrisman is the editor-in-chief and publisher of The Black Scholar.

 

Charles P. Henry is the H. Michael and Jeanne Williams Chair of African American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Long Overdue: The Politics of Racial Reparations. Robert L. Allen is an adjunct professor of African American studies and ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Black Awakening in Capitalist America: An Analytic History. Robert Chrisman is the editor-in-chief and publisher of The Black Scholar.

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The Obama Phenomenon

Toward a Multiracial Democracy

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS

Copyright © 2011 Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-252-07822-4

Contents

Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................................................................ixIntroduction CHARLES P. HENRY.................................................................................................................................................................11. Toward a Multiracial Democracy: The Jackson and Obama Contributions CHARLES P. HENRY.......................................................................................................152. Analysis of Black American Voters in Barack Obama's Victory MARTIN KILSON..................................................................................................................343. Dead Certain: The Election of Barack Obama and Its Implications for Racial Politics HANES WALTON JR., JOSEPHINE A. V. ALLEN, SHERMAN C. PUCKETT, DONALD R. DESKINS JR......................604. What Trumped? Race, Class, Gender, Generation, the Economy, and the 2008 Elections JULIANNE MALVEAUX.......................................................................................825. Race, the Presidency, and Obama's First year DIANNE M. PINDERHUGHES........................................................................................................................926. Under Press-ure: Overcoming the Media and Its Mavens? HERB BOYD............................................................................................................................1117. Opportunity Costs: The Impact of the 2008 Campaign on the Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton SCHARN ROBINSON..............................................................................1268. Lest We Forget: An open letter to my sisters who are brave ALICE WALKER....................................................................................................................1439. The Ambivalent embrace of Barack Obama: The ethical Significance and Social Apprehension of Blackness MAULANA KARENGA......................................................................14810. Obama, Black Religion, and the Reverend Wright Controversy JOHN L. JACKSON................................................................................................................16511. Race, Religion, and the Race for the White House DWIGHT N. HOPKINS........................................................................................................................18112. The New Negro in African American Politics: Barack Obama and the Politics of Racial Representation RONALD WILLIAMS II.....................................................................20013. Barack Obama's Anomalous Relationship with the Hip-Hop Community SHAUN OSSEI-OWUSU........................................................................................................21814. Too Black and Too Strong: First Lady Michelle Obama ULA Y. TAYLOR.........................................................................................................................23615. President Obama: Freedom Democrat or Neoliberal? ROBIN D. G. KELLEY.......................................................................................................................25316. Multicultural Hegemony: Globalization and the Obama Doctrine CLARENCE LUSANE..............................................................................................................26217. An Affirmative Act? Barack Obama and the Past, Present, and Future of Race-Conscious Remedies CHERYL I. HARRIS............................................................................277Epilogue: The Legacy of the Obama Era: A New Electoral Majority? ROBERT L. ALLEN..............................................................................................................311Contributors...................................................................................................................................................................................315Index..........................................................................................................................................................................................319

Introduction

CHARLES P. HENRY

Times are out of joint. We have an African American president yet representatives call him a liar publicly and the Republicans hold an alternate State of the Union in Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy. Philadelphia, Mississippi, has a Black mayor yet Blacks and Whites find it hard to find a justice of the peace that will marry them in Louisiana, which has an East Indian American as governor. Chris Matthews forgets the president is Black but Harry Reid is able to distinguish him from darker, less-well-spoken African Americans. It seems some have transcended race but others have not.

I was only three years old when Ralph Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize. Therefore I don't remember the extent to which the national and even world communities of African descent celebrated. I believe it must have been some collective party. After all, he beat out Winston Churchill, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Harry Truman—who called him with congratulations. The award came at the beginning of a series of post-World War II events signaling a period of racial advancement including the desegregation of baseball and the military. Again I was only eight when the Supreme Court's Brown decision was announced. As the only Black student in my elementary school this probably should have registered with me, but it didn't. However, I know it was a cause of national celebration among African Americans, or, as we were labeled then, Negroes. I know it inspired Martin Luther King and Ralph Bunche to predict that within ten years America would be fully integrated.

The old folks had a word that described such events—a jubilation. Undoubtedly no event before or since matched the jubilation marking the Emancipation Proclamation. For many years into the twentieth century Blacks would celebrate this day of jubilation. The "Black Republican" president, Lincoln (Clinton was not the first "Black" president), had come through, and even though the scope of the Proclamation was limited, it signaled the end of enslavement. Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson was on the scene in Port Royal, South Carolina, the morning of January 1, 1863:

About ten ... people began collecting, steamboats from up & down river ... [and] from that time forth the road was crowded with riders & walkers—chiefly black women with gay handkerchiefs on their heads & a sprinkling of men. Many white persons also, superintendents and teachers. As everyone gathered in a large clearing, a military band played in the background and local dignitaries mounted a platform set beneath towering live oak trees, where they had a clear view of the river. Like many observers, the sight of the black soldiers of the First South Carolina Volunteers especially impressed African American missionary Charlotte Forten ...

Ceremonies opened with prayer and a reading of the emancipation Proclamation, followed by a presentation of colors to the First South Carolina Volunteers. rev. Mansfield French delivered to Colonel Higginson a silk flag bearing the name of the regiment and the proud proclamation, "The year of Jubilee has come!" As Higginson...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: University of Illinois Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2011
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0252078225
• ISBN 13: 9780252078224
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 326
• Herausgeber: Henry Charles P., Allen Robert L., Chrisman Robert
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar