Call me cynical, call me irate, or call me a crab, but now that the election is over, it is time for black folk to make some demands.
That’s right, demands of the man who occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the gentleman who received 93 percent of the black vote, the man who has promised to uplift the middle class and “raise all boats.”
I’m talking Barack Obama, folks. President Barack Obama.
He not only gave Mr. Mittens Romney a beat down on his way back to the White House, but he wiped his shoes off on Willard’s doormat by taking the state of Florida, winning 332 Electoral College votes.
Now that many black folk are assured that Obama will be leading the nation for the next four years and not Mr. Romney, what is in it for us?
Earlier today, political commentator Tavis Smiley wrote an article titled “The Last of the Loud.” In it, he states that Obama owes black folk big for their support of him during his last campaign. He says that just as Obama is making issues dealing with the Hispanic and LGBT community a priority, he should do the same for black people.
I’m not exactly sure that Obama and many others see it that way.
Without going into excruciating detail and reason as to why Obama should look out for black folk, I’ll simply say this: Black unemployment is 14.3 percent nationally, compared to 10 percent for Hispanics and 7 percent for white people.
Is that not reason enough for him to focus on the black community?
Now that Obama doesn’t have to look over his shoulder to worry about how his next move will impact the campaign or if he’ll be viewed as catering too much to his own race, it is time for him to get serious about the dire economic situation in the black community.
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that black folk would march around the White House if the current economic conditions facing the black community were being overlooked by a white president.
He’s right.
Going further, Reverend Jesse Jackson recently termed the so-called “tax mandate” that Obama has, as one to rejuvenate cities, or in my eyes, urban areas.
He is also right.
There is so much facing the president over the next four years, like avoiding the overplayed and overblown fiscal cliff, and trying to come up with a comprehensive plan to reform immigration.
I give credence to those fights and fully understand that Obama has a job to do that moves all of America forward, not just black America.
However, I also recognize that Obama called on his black support early. He summoned many black radio personalities to the White House in early 2011 to talk about how they can help him win re-election.
It worked.
As my main man James Brown so famously said, it is time for “The Big Payback.”
Give us a piece of legislation that deals with black unemployment, a jobs bill that will directly impact the black community and chronic joblessness. Let’s get serious about rebuilding black wealth after it was dissolved during the great depression that started in 2008.
We can also push the president, and other leaders, to talk about serious gun control and crime afflicting urban areas across America. There needs to be severe legislation about poverty-distressing minorities and our issues with education.
That is not too tough of a mandate, is it?
Remember during Obama’s State of the Union address in 2011 when the main tagline was “we do big things?” Well, it’s time for him to do those things for the black community.
Do big things for the folks who are fervent for you. Do big things for the men and women who stood in line for hours to bubble-in a circle next to your name. For the man who feels that his best chance of getting a job after being out of work for almost two years is with you sitting in the White House, Mr. President.
Do those things because it is time, but not only that, do those things because they are right.
Remember, we do big things and raise all boats.
-JH
