Do you believe race relations have gotten better under President Obama?

No, certainly not in the short term. Seeing a black man in the White House is bound to raise the anxiety levels of people who may feel that they “have nothing against blacks”, but harbor fears that white privilege may be in danger. It’s bound to excite existing polarities.

I was watching Ken Burn’s documentary on the Roosevelts last night, and saw that Teddy Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to be the first black man to dine at the White House. There was an immense shit storm. Was that good for race relations? Certainly not in terms of the immediate aftermath. But long-term change often starts with near-term trauma.

I go along with @thorninmud . Here is another aspect. Maybe blacks have been emboldened to think that if a black person is good enough to become president then they deserve better than the abuse they have been receiving from the police and others in authority. In addition to an increase of abuse, as suggested by @thorninmud , they may feel more inclined to protest. Not good in the short term, but maybe necessary for long term improvement.

I think that in fact, for the vast majority of people, very little has changed (not saying it’s great, just that it hasn’t changed).

However, conservative hysteria over immigrants and “taking back our country” has certainly gotten a lot louder. The “patriot” militia groups have grown a lot. Incidents like Ferguson have sent bedwetters across the country to arm themselves in fear.

And conservatives are given prominent places on FOX and AM radio, which makes people feel that racism, xenophobia, and seething resentment are normal and acceptable.

I want to step in and say thanks to @thorninmud, @LostInParadise & @jaytkay for great, thoughtful answers. I feared a flames when I asked the question and got thought. Excellent.

I’m not sure if the race relations have gotten worse or the problem is being more openly displayed. The treatment of immigrants by some cons really concerns me. Let the native American white guy make the call on immigration.~

I think they’re just gradually getting better on their own. I don’t think Obama has much to do with it.

Worse. I almost feel like I am back in the 60’s with how bad the racial tension is in this country. Something racial is in the news each and everyday. Then you have black youths committing crimes, getting arrested, choked and shot and the black communities get upset and rally about what the police did to their children and then add in the Al Sharpton’s in the media who fan the flames of outrage instead of urging cooler heads to prevail and work towards solutions to the problem.

What I don’t see is anyone black or white addressing the real issue about the black disadvantaged youths that are behind most of the crimes and murders in their own neighborhoods. All I see is pissed off parents of these kids and they are getting angry at the police and white folks who committed these actions instead of thinking of how this all could have been avoided. We have our first African American President and that should have been a major spring board for improving race relations and creating opportunities in urban black communities. Barack should have been that role model to inspire the black youth to do better for themselves yet what I have seen instead develop over the last 6 years, is an entitlement mentality that IMO disincentivises the younger black generation to take action for better opportunities. I think what is missing is better schools and approach to education and better role models than Al Sharpton.

But I will also have to side with @Adirondackwannabe comment that maybe it has been this way all this time only that we are seeing more of it the media nowadays.

Well, there were not any Birthers before Obama.

I’ve heard the term ‘Racist’ thrown around more in the past few years than any other time in my life. That includes the 60s and 70s. Sure makes it seem that race relations have deteriorated.

I think race relations have improved. People care more now than they used to and that’s improved relations between the average American™. There will always be crazies at the extremes, and they will always scream the loudest. But we’ve had public debates about racial issues and the people two sides are no longer divided mainly along racial lines. That’s an improvement.

The items you see in the news have an infinitely higher profile because people who watch the news are finally aware of the way some people are treated or portrayed. You’re seeing more strife because that strife matters to more people. It’s always been there, it was just an accepted (or at least ignored) norm.

The national level news simply used to not cover any of it. It was not their problem or their viewers problems. Obama being elected (even without any other actions) raised the ceiling and expectations for a large portion of our population and brought the reality that they do not have to be second class citizens.

I don’t mean this to sound like a media conspiracy, I don’t think it is, I think the news will always cover what people show they want to know about, and black people getting shot was just considered part of their culture. Notice their culture, as in, not ours. I also don’t mean that a large portion of the population was callous, there’s just always plenty to worry about, and race relations weren’t a top issue. Now it is.

Look at athletes now versus 20 or even 10 years ago. You have whole teams making statements on current events involving race, there really isn’t any consequence. 20 years ago the only way to keep any endorsements was to hold your opinions closely and be “professional”. Can you imagine Michael Jordan wearing an “I can’t breathe” shirt? Never would have happened.

I went to predominantly black schools in “bad” neighborhoods for middle and high school in the 90’s. Race has always been an issue. I was Opie before I had any idea who Opie was. It goes both ways among kids, but hanging out with my schoolmates in their neighborhood was an instant education in how the world viewed minorities. I saw the difference between police officers breaking up a house party in a minority neighborhood (literally guns and cuffs) and police breaking up a party in my neighborhood (knock on the door, turn the music down). I’ve been in cars that were pulled over because the driver was black and in a “nice” neighborhood. I’d like to think we’re nearing the end of that type of thinking as policy, but I think really we’re just nearing accountability for it.

The communities, pastors, and activists are doing the same things they’ve always done, now there’s just cameras and social media. The smart ones are more savvy and are finding they have allies outside their own zip code. That’s different.

So while I think you’re seeing more clashes, I think that’s only because people of all races are more aware that there are problems, and closer in their view that those problems need to be addressed, even if they don’t necessarily agree on what should be done.

I think the conversation about race has been reopened. For the past 30 years, there were only minor occasional discussions on the topic and the populace was lulled into a sense of it having been a thing of the past, while the institutionalized oppression of the poor and undereducated continued – most of whom happen to be non-whites.

Having an African-American President changes the conversation because it offers a role model to kids who didn’t have much other than entertainers (I include sports in that) to look up to in the media previously. For those who are prejudiced, it just helps to break through barriers so they get accustomed to seeing someone that they judge as incapable or unworthy based on appearance in a position that they prove their capabilities.

Think of how Jackie Robinson made the bigots willing to accept having a person of color on their team, and now most major sports teams are very diverse and we think nothing of it. Had Condaleeza RIce and General Colin Powell not preceded him in government positions, I don’t know that Mr. Obama would have won the election. Now with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, there is a high-profile role-model in the scientific community. Once Sandra Day O’Connor was confirmed, it became less of a shock for the bigots to see a woman presiding over a courtroom, let alone upholding the Constitution.

Each breakthrough paves the way for those who come after, so while I don’t think race relations have improved under President Obama, I feel that because of his presence, we have picked the scars tissue off some wounds that didn’t heal properly, and hopefully society will tend to ensuring that the healing goes well this time.

@funkdaddy I’ve been in cars that were pulled over because the driver was black and in a “nice” neighborhood.
Ooooo…..you were an eyewitness to someone actually getting DWBed (Driving While Black)? I guess they let them go because you legitimized the trip unless they thought you were kidnapped. ~~

@Cruiser Barack should have been that role model to inspire the black youth to do better for themselves

What a terrible example Obama sets.

Can you imagine if every black kid ran around getting Columbia degrees, Harvard law degrees, teaching law at the University of Chicago, getting elected US Senator and President?

The horror!

Of course not.
What made anybody believe they would?

@jaytkay precisely my point. Barack had a privileged upbringing and any inner city kid already knows the path Barack traveled is unreachable for them….and that is where he missed a great opportunity to express and illustrate achievable goals that ANY poor, disenfranchised kid black or white could attain with dedication to said goal whether that is college or vocational school. They know they will never be President of the USA but with leadership and role models they can relate to, they could be guided to be President of a company that provides jobs for other disadvantaged youths. Huge missed opportunity.

Lay off the AM radio. It’s not good for you. You’re not making any sense.

For the most part, yes. What some ignored, now is noticed. I have noticed that many people are much more polite and compassionate towards others.

@jaytkay Be part of the solution and not part of the problem. You are smart enough to know there is no way most inner city kids could short of a miracle achieve a Harvard degree let alone a community college degree….throwing down MSNBC quips will only exacerbate the problem and do nothing to further intelligent dialogue towards a fix to all that you are waving your hands at.

Whites were represented as 72% of the electorate in 2012, allowing Obama re-election.

Even larger percentage in 2008.

Just sayin.

@ibstubro That stat is completely meaningless. If you truly break it down you will see that black voters were not in the majority who voted for Obama, you will see black and white Union workers, black and white under employed workers, black and white unemployed workers who voted to protect their entitlements, you will also see many immigrants who voted for Obama’s amnesty promises and most of all you will see people of all colors and ages who voted for Obama because of his pledge for affordable and free health care all at the expense of people who were smart enough to see though the charade and not vote for him. It comes down to smart versus gullible….which one are you?

maybe that should be a campaign slogan in 2016? Except who’s the “smart” candidate for 2016? gotta be careful with these things.

I don’t think Obama has had much to do about anything regarding race relations.

Are race relations better or worse? I’m think not much has changed in the last ten years. Media is picking up on stories more lately is how it seems to me, but there certainly have been stories about racism before that too.

Over time I think we have had a positive trend in race relations and less racism. I truly believe the vast majority of the country is not racist. Not how I define the word anyway. However, I do think if wages stay very low and stagnant for the poor and parts of the middle class that it lends itself to more possibilities of racism.

@Cruiser From everything I’ve read, Obama did not have a privileged up bringing. His parents seperated when he was less than a year old, and legally divorced when he was about 3, and from the age of 10 on he was raised by his grandmother. His grand parents worked in furniture stores and in restaurants, and during WWII his grandma worked the night shift at Boeing. They were just regular people. Nothing privileged about them.

What I wish is I could go back in time and whisper in Martin Luther King’s ear…..

Well @Dutchess_III living in Hawaii and attending Punahou School in Honolulu, one of the top private schools in the city and then eventually going to Harvard Law school sounds pretty privileged to me.

How is living in Hawaii any more prestigious than living in the Midwest, where his maternal family lived, until they moved to Hawaii?
Sounds like someone busted their butts to give him the opportunity. Plus he went to that prep school with the aid of a scholarship. Scholarships are earned in some way, so it sounds like he did some butt-busting himself. If you look back on his grand parent’s life, his gramma was a blue collar worker and his grandfather was a soldier. His grandfather opened a furniture store in Hawaii.

My idea of prestigious doesn’t include blue collar work or the military.

he probably thinks anything above a cotton plantation is prestigious for a black person.

@Dutchess_III I read up on that school and I had no idea just how privileged he was to go there. ;)

“Long an icon in the community, Obama described Punahou as “an incubator for the island elites”. In the local lexicon it’s synonymous with privilege and influence.”

Come on.

As a young man from a family of humble origins, he was surrounded by the sons and daughters of Hawaii’s upper class. He was acutely aware that his schoolmates lived in large homes.One former classmate said, “Barack was the only person I knew of who lived in an apartment. The rest of us had homes.” In addition to class distinctions, there were only a handful of African Americans at Punahou, which was overwhelmingly white and Asian.

@funkdaddy That is the epitome of a privilege and a Godsend that a young black man can have a grandfather who can “pull some strings” to get his grandson a full ride at a top-notch private school only the elite get to go to…..if that isn’t a privilege…I do not know what one is. Sheesh!

@Cruiser – Let’s step back, I’m not sure if I’m missing your point. As I understand you, you think Obama’s election has a negative effect on people from a similar background because it’s hard to duplicate his path? And you’re saying that he was gifted that path due to his privilege rather than earned his way, and that sets a bad example?

Is that right?

Has any modern President been inspirational to anyone through that lens? Has anyone earned their way?

Is growing up with your grandparents, having a single mother who lives elsewhere for most of your childhood, never being above middle class financially, and having both parents die before you’re 35 really the makings of a privileged life? Privileged meaning having special rights, advantages, or immunities.…

Do you just not like the guy, or does this really connect in some way?

@funkdaddy I do not think his “election” has had a negative effect I think his leadership style for one coupled with many missed opportunities and teachable moments to manage certain events as a black president. Not going to Ferguson is one of them. Always having Al Sharpton by his side anytime there is a black event or problem is IMO not helping him narrow the black white gap in this country. Of course there are the many white Americans who are prejudiced and will also fan the flames of racial tension.

But my points here remain centered around all the missed opportunities Obama has had over the last 6 years to lead as a Black President and to say and do more to reduce and heal the racial tension in this country. He is a compelling orator and I wished he had used those skills to say more to address this issue.

Can you imagine the shit storm if he was overtly providing assistance to the blacks?

I agree with @Cruiser in that I expected him to address race. It would have been great if he had asked some hard questions of both sides of the ‘racial divide’. Some ‘nuts and bolts’ discussion on how to smooth race relations in the US.

Honestly, it seems to me that the majority of white people that voted for Obama expected some interracial dialogue and hoped for progress. Seems to me that Obama has been less productive in that arena than Clinton was.

I can’t decide if it is best to open up more dialogue to improve race relations, or to not say much of anything and let progress keep going in the direction it has been. Obama has spoken out here and there about being black and the black experience, but very little I do agree. I’ve never read his books, but it seems to me overall the color of his skin has not been a big obstacle. I think he does represent to black people that you can be President, or anything you want to be, in America. If black people want to know how to do it, then they need to listen to those who have acheived what they themselves want. This is true for everybody. I am not as successful in my career as my husband, because I did not have the focus, drive, or willingness to play the game to do the work to keep progressing in my career. He doesn’t get as bothered by some of the corporate BS. He got his masters. He has a better ability than me to stay on task. It’s two sided. We need America to not be racist and we need those who want to get ahead to understand and be privvy to the formula.

I think focusing on the poor and middle class does help black people, because the biggest barriers in society are social class. In our society money is a huge deal. It provides, shelter, transportation, food, health care, safety, better education, and more. If he addresses social class issues, then he is addressing black issues, because black people are disporportionately poor. The things the upper middle class and upper class would criticize about black people and their own obstacles they put up, would likely apply to poor white people also. The system that creates obstacles and disadvantages for the poor are similar for all poor people. Addressing the issues regarding social class means he is less likely to be criticized for an unsual focus on trying to help his own “kind.”

I think the race issue is so complex and less overt than in the past, so it is impossible for one President to specifically address it. Maybe as things get better in regards to race relations it gets more tricky? When black people weren’t allowed to go to the same schools as whites that was sonething blatantly discriminatory. Things are not that blatant now and harder to figure out and address. IMO.

@JLeslie “I can’t decide if it is best to open up more dialogue to improve race relations”

This should be a no brainer….yes the issue is complex…but complex issues and or problems are remedied and benefit from constructive dialogue and that is NOT something that has happened in any of the last 6 years. For our President to have at his side as an advisor the like of an Al Sharpton, we are only erasing 40 years of progress on the front of racial inequality in this country. Seriously….what is he thinking??

@Cruiser Who is it exactly at his side? I’m missing something.

I used to firmly think talking about race issues was very important. Then about my third year into being in Fluther I really began to question it.

I think race issues primarily have to do with socio-economics and xenophobia. Not racism.

@Cruiser @ibstubro – what’s an example of a concrete action that would have an effect on race relations and you would like Obama to undertake?

@JLeslie He said Al Sharpton is at his side. (But President O isn’t dumb, so I don’t get that…)

@JLeslie Al Sharpton is Obama’s chosen “advisor” for addressing race relations in our country. He may as well have picked Adolph Hitler.

Perhaps a new President’s Committee on Civil Rights, @funkdaddy?

Can the statistics here be refuted? I realize it may be a rabidly conservative vehicle, yet if the facts are even remotely true, it boggles the mind. Aline them with the “fact” that In 30 of the 31 communities that responded, the percentage of black residents is higher than the proportion of black officers.. Specifically, if the problem is that there is a disproportionate number of white police officers, then how did it come to be that ⅓ of blacks killed by police were killed by black police officers.

Get some smart, yet polarized, people together and charge them with shedding light and making concrete proposals.

“Alfred Charles “Al” Sharpton, Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist, television/radio talk show host and a trusted White House adviser who, according to 60 Minutes, has become President Barack Obama’s “go-to black leader.”
Source.

Quotes:
“If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house”.
“White folks was in caves while we was building empires…. We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it.”
“As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don’t worry about that; that’s a temporary situation.”
Wow. Just wow.

@Cruiser Thanks. I didn’t know that and was confused. I’d say Al Sharpton definitely would not be my first choice. I wish it was some black sociologist with knowledge about what can really affect change.

Personally, I respect the Reverend Al Sharpton being the President’s “go to black leader” about as much as I would respect “W” Bush using David Duke.

Great analogy @ibstubro

Or “W” (which stands for convicted War Criminal) using Dick Cheney.