Blacks turned out in record numbers to elect Barack Obama, twice, to the presidency. Now many are asking, what was the point, as little has changed.
From Washington Post:
On Jacksonville’s [Florida] north side and in other struggling urban neighborhoods across the country, where Barack Obama mobilized large numbers of new African American voters who were inspired partly by the emotional draw of his biography, high hopes have turned to frustration: Even a black president was unable to heal places still gripped by violence, drugs and joblessness.
While supporting Obama became a cause for many here rather than a typical campaign, Hillary Clinton [the Democratic presidential frontrunner] faces a higher bar in making a case that she, too, can be a transformative figure.
Her campaign is planning to build on the multiethnic coalition that turned out to support Obama. Running to be the first female president, Clinton will also try to generate Obama-like enthusiasm among new voters — those who were too young to turn out for Obama or have not previously been engaged with politics.
Yet as her allies prepare to register voters and expand the black electorate, her candidacy presents residents here with a question: If Obama’s presidency didn’t do more to help African Americans, then how could hers?
Read more HERE.
