Obama and Race Relations: Civil Rights Leaders Aren't Satisfied
Some thought the first African American president would herald in a new post-racial era
Obama has been in office only a few months, of course, and even the most impatient civil rights leaders agree on at least one thing: They want him to succeed. But as the first black president moves on to his next hundred days, there seems to be an increased willingness to hold him to his own high standards. "People are still coming up to me and saying they've been inspired by Obama. But they want the change to be real. That's what people are most eager for," says Jealous. "Life hasn't changed that much, but expectations are higher."
As time goes by, they seem likely to get higher still.
- Read more about Obama's Justice Department.
- Find out who's in Obama's inner circle.
- Read Obama's 12 Most Important Decisions.
Reader Comments
GObama
Hmm... It is quite strange how pigs would fly when America has a black president. And now, the swine flu. Wow. The swine flew, all right.
Wake up people!
Why would anyone think that the election of a Black president a hundred days ago would change what has stubbornly hung on for the past 2 or 3 hundred years. Prejudice which continues to reenforce itself thru the media, television and most aspects of daily life cannot be defeated while the stereotypes of Blacks continues on a daily basis in most aspects of our lives. Blacks themselves continue to feed these views by buying in to these stereotypes. We continue to run around with our pants dragging on the ground, fooling ourselves that looking like a criminal is cool. We lament the lack of any shows on TV showing real Black life of any kind that portrays us in a positive light. The Blacks with money who could put shows like this on TV instead choose to produce shows that continually reenforce stereotypes about us because it sells, but to who, few of these shows last more than a season or two! No it's going to take more than an occaisional positive racial blip on the screen of race relations in this country to change the widely perceived views held by mmost of White America about Blacks!
Study your history!
By the comments observed on this article it would appear that the poorly educated students of today(those that remain in school)
aren't the only ones who don't pay any attention to daily news or to history or much of anything else if they have to read it. Or they would know that the swine flu has been around for many years it didn't just appear when Obama took office a hundred days ago!
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