BY RENEE J. TURNER
Three years into President Barack Obama’s term, there are harsh critics in the media that were once strong supporters. Today, still in this utterly brutal economy with one in six living below the poverty level, including many African Americans, we know the endless lists of struggles we are faced with that seem like a depression, only without the title. Now, African-American critics are highly vocal.
The reality of what President Obama and his administration were up against has not changed since he was elected. There are those who are too critical, and even naive, in not considering that his first four years were going to be brutal for him, and for those of us who elected him. There was going to be a backlash.
Some outspoken critics have decided to forget the infrastructure of racism that continues to weigh from subtle to outright blatant. The strategy for the end goal is to not have this African-American president re-elected, even if the country has to be taken down economically. What we’ve recently witnessed with Congress and the debt debate should not have surprised any of us. This non-existent economic turnaround is not the fault of President Obama. We are to blame for not recognizing the extreme determination that would take place to keep him from being a two-term president.
It seems as though some have forgotten the struggles and the price that was paid in years past. Many of these critics should remember, not only how hard it was to elect the first African-American mayor or senator or congressman or governor, but also the aftermath of doing so. Remember the divisiveness, the planning, the anger (even rage) that had taken place right after the first elected term for people of color. There have always been different means of attempting to keep us from being elected or getting us out of office, like redistricting. Voter ID laws were passed not to combat widespread voter fraud, we all know that. This became a modern civil rights issue that was designed to weed out certain voters. Do these highly vocal critics, who truly believe that there is still racism, think President Obama is only mildly affected by it? No one thought that racism was going to evaporate, but they have highly
underestimated the weight of the tactics involved.
Have we stopped to consider that some people in this country voted for President Obama only to be voting against a party and the previous administration, rather than being enlightened enough to believe in this county having a Black president? Some tactics involved are knowing what we’ve gone through as African Americans and our history, having the audacity to use air quotes when speaking of the president as being Black or African American. While the leadership of a president is called “the bully pulpit,” these critics are demanding that the president be tougher on Republicans. After the election, it’s as though we’ve forgotten ongoing struggles from the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement up through the election. We expect President Obama to be perfect, while shifting our focus. We allow him to be labeled as having a “crisis in leadership,” when it is the same ole racism redesigned, and not about party opposition. We knew that electing him would force us to deal with racism even more in this country. Now we are.
In order to get him re-elected, we have to acknowledge the reality that racism is more sophisticated and is being whispered behind closed doors more than ever before. This will continue to fuel the lack of economic recovery and growth. The true test of how far this country has come is not the historic election, but President Obama’s re-election. What we are faced with, as the re-election campaign picks up, is the realization that we will have to do some convincing to get people back to the polls.
With a clearer vision of this unrelenting pursuit, there is no doubt that people are hurting financially. More voters and potential voters are puzzled, disillusioned, or fearful of the coming years ahead. To get people to register to vote, this upcoming election may not be easy. There are numbers of voters who could be displaced for economic reasons while trying to put food on the table and find jobs. Some may be close to being homeless. How many are actually homeless? While corporations are sitting on cash rather than hiring, we may not be out there marching for equality. Equality in this nation involves becoming closer and closer to being equally impoverished.
What’s more disturbing are those outspoken African-American critics who have the audacity to have forgotten to look at the harshly intensive nature of racism in America today. It can appear to be subtle at times. We must offer hope to President Obama with strength and courage from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. We must have the audacity to get up off our apathy.
Renee J. Turner is a writer and has written articles on voting and voter registration here in Atlanta, Ga.