Limbi Moderne Aplicate - CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

 

Limbi Moderne Aplicate

 

CONTEMPORARY ISSUES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

INTRODUCTION

This paper is an attempt to prove the amazing breaktrough that African Americans people made in the last decade.

African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa.^[3] In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry.

Many African Americans also claim European, Native American, or Asian ancestors. A variety of names have been used for African Americans at various points in history. African Americans have been referred to as Negroes, colored, blacks, and Afro-Americans, as well as lesser-known terms, such as the 19th-century designation Anglo-African. The terms Negro and colored are now rarely used. African American, black, and to a lesser extent Afro-American, are used interchangeably today.

After years of oppression, racism and discrimination African Americans are finally recovering and they succeed in all important life aspects: economical, political and social.

The first chapter of this paper takes a look in the economic status of African Americans. Economically, blacks have made substantial strides in the post-civil rights era, the economy is improved and better organized, but as the first chapter shows there are still some negative aspects about the African American economy.

The second chapter describes the blooming political aspect of African American and the great event that was the election of the first African American president, Barack Obama in November 2008 who made history and demolished the racial barrier in American politics.

Finally, the last chapter describes the struggle of the contemporary African woman, the feminine African American dream that accomplished after a long and bumpy road. African American women are now great leaders in all aspects of their lives and they managed as wives, mothers and business women.

CHAPTER 1

THE ECONOMIC STATUS

How long at the periphery?

Economically, African Americans have benefited from the advances made during the Civil Rights Era, particulary among the educated, but not without the lingering effects of historical marginalization when considered a whole. (www.wikipedia.org)

On all major economic indicators: income, wages, employment, and poverty, African Americans were worse off in 2007 than they were in 2000. Although the American economy has grown significantly since 2000, African Americans have not shared America`s prosperity. The overall social well- being of African Americans communities depends upon strong job growth. The historical evidence shows clearly that strong job and wage growth are the keys to reducing black poverty. Without reductions in child poverty, we can expect continued lower educational achievement, higher rates of teen pregnancy, and a higher than average rate of crime in black communities. (www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp220/)

The issues of economic progress are the same issues that cross the questions about family structure and stability; the problems of education and opportunities opened up by educational progress; and the issues of ethnic identity for a minority population, living in a country where the majority is another group. ( Larry L. Naylor,1997:99)

All americans suffer because of the present situation generate by the economic crises. All americans should benefit from a more equitable distribution of the wealth of American society. African Americans, in particular, need policies that will attend to their low employment rates, low wages, and high poverty rates.

A decade ago, the economic outlook for African Americans was quite different. In 1999, the journalist Ellis Cose wrote: " It`s the best time ever to be black in America. Crime is down, jobs and incomes are up" (Cose 1999). The tight labor market of the 1990s produced increasing employment, higher wages, and a historic drop in the poverty rate for blacks. Home ownership, the major source of wealth for most Americans, was on the rise for African Americans. By 2000, the median black household income had climbed to its highest level ever, while black unemployment and poverty rates had declined to their lowest levels on record. In 2000, 47 percent of African Americans owned their homes. The poverty rate has decreased from 26.5 percent in 1998 to 24.7 percent in 2004. If these trends had continued, African Americans would have made significant advances in closing economic gaps with whites.

(www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp220/)

These trends did not continue, however. The recession of 2001 brought African

American progress to a halt and reversed the gains blacks made over the 1990s. The jobless recovery that followed brought no significant economic progress for African Americans. Blacks experienced over twice as many home mortgage denials and home improvement loan denials than whites. Clearly, these denial rates impact the ability to secure a home and more importantly, the ability to improve one`s home value overtime. When comparing income status, it seems that black men earn 70 percent of the, income that white men earn with the same level of education creating an average income gap of 16,876 $ per year. Black women with the same level of education earn 83 percent of the income that white women earn or 6,370 $ less each year.

( https://www.maximsnews.com /1006marcmorial28march.htm)

Overall, the economic condition of African Americans has worsened since 2000. Wage growth for the median black worker has stagnated, incomes and employment have declined, and poverty has increased. Since 2000, the country experienced a recession, which was followed by slow job growth. How have these changes affected black family incomes?

Between 2000 and 2007, the African American median family income declined by 1 percent. This is the first decline in black median family income in a business cycle of this length since World War II . Median family income shows the average of all African American families, but the trends by family type are different. Married-couple families have fared the best over the 2000s. However, in the dismal 2000s economy, "best" only means that they did not lose income, but also they did not make any substantive gains. Between 2000 and 2007, median black family income was up 1.9 percent for married couples (Table 1) or an increase of 1,170 $.

(www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp220/)

TABLE 1

Median black family incomes in 2000 and 2007 (2007 dollars)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2008c).

However, all African American single-headed families decreased by 1.9 percent, a loss of $482 over the period. African American single male-headed families saw an even more substantial decline in median family income. From 2000 to 2007, median income for these families dropped 9.1 percent. African American single male-headed families make up a small but growing share of black families (U.S Census Bureau 2004).

The lack of growth in family incomes has meant that many African Americans families live paycheck to paycheck. They are unable to save and rely on credit cards for both day-to-day and emergency expenses. These families are falling deeper into debt over time (Silva and Epstein 2005). The path out of debt and toward upward mobility for African Americans begins with strong and steady income growth. The stagnation of family incomes is a result of stagnating wages. In 2000, African American workers experienced no significant increases in weekly or hourly wages. Without annual increases in real wages, families are finding it harder to maintain their overall incomes.

( www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp220)

From 2000 to 2007, the median weekly wage for all American workers aged 25 to 54 years old declined by 0.2 percent. The median wage for African American workers in this age range declined by 0.6 percent. In dollar terms, the median American worker earned a $1 less in 2007 than in 2000, and the African American worker earned $ 3 less. For a year and a half after 2001 recession, the economy grew, yet jobs losses continued. It took almost four years to regain the prior peak in the number of jobs ( Shierholz 2008).   The African American unemployment rate increased by 0.7 percentage points between 2000 and 2007 ( U.S Department of Labor 2007). Also the employment rate declined 2.4 percent in this period. This drop shows a decline in the number of working African Americans that is more than three times indicated by the change in the unemployment rate. Even at the employment rate peak in 2000, African Americans were less likely to be employed than Americans generally. ( www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp220)

Lower educational attainment among blacks is one reason for low employment rates among African Americans, but it is not the only factor. Racial discrimination in the labor market and dysfunctional criminal justice policies both seem to play significant roles in preventing blacks from obtaining a place to work. (Austin 2008, Pager 2003).

One economic bright spot in the 2006 report was the growth of black-owned businesses over the past few years. Although there is still a significant disparity between White and Black owned businesses, the gap is narrowing. The current equality index of 54 percent of Black owned businesses compared to White owned businesses is a vast improvement over 2005 index which reported only 37 percent of businesses as Black-owned.

However, access to financing and capital still prevent most Black owned businesses for stabilizing and expanding. Again, the lower home equity values retained by African Americans prevent many minority-owned businesses from accessing the needed capital out of their own homes.

(www.maximsnews.com/1006marcmoria l28march.htm)

Another negative aspect is that number of blacks in prison and the rate of black violent crime also increased. African Americans who are ex-offenders have a difficult time finding a place to work. African American men with a criminal record who do find work tend to work less and have lower earnings than similar men without a record.

The economic condition of African Americans is much worse today than in 2000. Family incomes, wages, and employment are down. Home ownership rates are rapidly declining. Poverty is up, and the number of ex- offenders struggling to find work is constantly rising. (www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp220)

Poverty among African Americans

Americans are proud of their economic system, believing it provides opportunities for all citizens to have good lives. Their faith is clouded, however, by the fact that poverty persists in many parts of the country. Government anti-poverty efforts have made some progress but have not eradicated the problem. Similarly, periods of strong economic growth, which bring more jobs and higher wages, have helped reduce poverty but have not eliminated it entirely.

( https://economics.about.com/od/howtheuseconomyworks/a/poverty.htm)

The poverty is still a very big problem for African Americans. The African Americans are one of the largest minority groups in America with a population of about 34 million. At present, the poverty rate among them is about 26 percent.

The United States has the highest poverty rate among developed nations, and the African American poverty rate has historically been three to four times the white rate. It is complicated to explain the persistence of poverty among racial and ethnic groups , as well as the high incidence of poverty among children . It seems that the poverty in the USA is defined on the basis of income and family size. The persistently higher poverty rates among African Americans are linked in part to the long legacy of discrimination and exclusion in the USA. The biggest reduction in black poverty occur during periods of strong job growth. From 1989 to 2000, the black family poverty rate fell by 8.5 percentage (Table 2). By family type, there were significant differences: single female-headed families experienced the largest decrease of 12.2 percentage, married- couple families had the smallest decline of 5.5 percentage and single male-headed families fell in between with a reduction of 8.4 percentage. (www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp220)

TABLE 2

Poverty rates for black families and children, 1989-2007

Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2008).

The 2001 recession ended with a jobless recovery that led to increases in African American poverty, but still wages for African Americans continued to be lower than those for similarly educated whites. The poverty rates for African Americans exceed those for whites in all categories of education, work effort and family structure. In many cases, African Americans continued to be the last hired and the first fired, which makes them more sensitive in than whites to changes in economic conditions.

( www.epi.org/publications/entry/bp220)

Other reasons for the overall increase in black poverty are linked to a lack of education. Because of the poor quality of inner-city public schools, African Americans continue to trail whites in educational achievement. While 85 percent of whites graduate high school, only 73 percent of African Americans do. Fully 29 percent of whites graduate college, but only 13 percent of blacks do .

Black poverty is also heavily concentrated in urban areas that suffer from a host of social ills, including high crime rates and a deteriorating economic base.( Michael Tanner, 1996 :27)

Poverty also means that blacks have little access to adequate health care. The latest report after Hurricane Katrina shows that about 20 percent of African Americans have no health insurance Cajetan Ngozika Ihewulezi, 2008:1) The future health of African Americans communities depends on reducing poverty rates. Children growing up in poverty have worse educational outcomes and are more likely to be at risk for criminal behavior, teen pregnancy and other negative outcomes. (www.epi.org/publications /entry/bp220)

Despite their hard work to overcome poverty, African Americans are still one of the poorest communities in the Unites States of America.

Does economic status determine health?

Living in poverty can have a profound and direct effect on a person's health. A person`s environment (housing, neighborhood and safety) has an impact on health and can determine the behavior and lifestyle choices a person can make. By any measure, people who live in communities of concentrated poverty are at greater risk of disease and premature mortality. This risk profile clearly describes the situation of African Americans because in 2007, 46.5 percent of black families had incomes below twice the poverty level. www.workforcediversitynetwork.com/docs/AfricanAmericanHealth)

Despite passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, numerous medical milestones, and the government's 'Healthy People' initiative to eliminate minority health disparities by 2010, African-Americans still suffer much higher disease and excess death rates than other racial groups. Infant mortality, one of the nation's most critical gauges of maternal and societal health, is twice as common in Black communities than in white, and occurs across all socioeconomic ranges of the Black community.

The confluence of race, genetics and disease in explaining African American health status presents race as a central health culprit. The concept of 'race' has been found to be largely psychological and sociopolitical, rather than biological, as human genome research indicates that all human beings carry 99.9 % of the same genetic material (DNA) regardless of race. False constructs of racial effects on health must be studied in order to eliminate health disparities that are largely psychosocially, historically and economically driven. (www.hcs.harvard.edu/~epihc/currentissue/fall2002/williams-johnson.php)

The economic conditions in which most African Americans find themselves directly affect their health care. The present employer- based health insurance system excludes many African Americans because of high unemployment rates. Households without adequate funding tend to be composed of members who are in a poor state of health. Being below the poverty line is an important criterion for attaining public assistance. For those who compose the working poor, there is no public alternative when employers do not provide insurance.

The uneven distribution of resources is reflected by a number of indicators from census reports. With an African American unemployment rate approximately twice that of whites and with nearly 37. 4 percent of African American families having no employed member, there is little hope for adequate health care. (Ivor Lensworth Livingston ,1994 :382) Health status and quality of care are compromised when people do not have access to a regular health care provider, and access to health care remains a problem for communities of color. Thirty five percent of African Americans report having no regular doctor, compared with 25 percent of whites. It seems that African Americans are more likely than whites to use emergency rooms as their usual source of care and are less likely to report being very satisfied with their care over time. Not surprisingly, ethnic disparities in access among the uninsured are far greater than those among the insured. www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/AfrAmA9acc.pdf)

These disparities in health access correlate with discrepancies in health status. African Americans adults are more likely to suffer from cardiovascular disease, complications of uncontrolled diabetes, and HIV than whites. African Americans are the American ethnic group most affected by HIV and AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has been estimated that '184,991 adult and adolescent HIV infections were diagnosed during 2001-2005'. More than 51 percent occurred among blacks than any other race. Between the ages of 25-44 years 62 percent were African Americans. (www.lycos.com/info/african-african-americans.html)

African American women have higher incidences of lung cancer, and they are also more likely to die from breast cancer than any other racial group. African American children compromise almost two-thirds of all pediatric AIDS cases.

Despite all these problems, African Americans are less likely than whites to receive appropriate treatment for these conditions after diagnosis. Although many factors contribute to the high prevalence of these diseases in the African American community, the lack of access to quality health insurance plays a crucial role.

( www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/AfrAmA9acc.pdf)

Intense, well-targeted, community-based, and culturally appropriate outreach and education programs are necessary to reach and educate minorities and enhance their access to health services. It is essential that health professionals, religious leaders, elected officials, and other community leaders become involved in promoting healthy life- styles and behaviors to bring some improvements in health care to their communities.

Minorities in the United States are victims of the existing health care system- lacking to access to appropriate, affordable, and quality services. In spite of the economic progress of some minorities, a substantial portion remain disproportionately poor, experience significantly higher rates of chronic diseases and mortality, and are substantially more likely to be uninsured. General improvement in the health care system and increased access will not substantially alter this reality. African Americans are more likely to respond to culturally sensitive, intimate, and personal interventions that cannot be planed without substantial input and participation from members of the community. ( Ivor Lensworth Livingston ,1994 :376)

CHAPTER 2

BLACK POLITICS AND BLACK POLITICAL THOUGHTS

The contemporary challenge for black politics

Collectively, African Americans are more involved in the American political process than other minority groups in the United States, indicated by the highest level of voter registration and participation in elections among these groups in 2004. African Americans collectively attain higher levels of education than immigrants to the United States. African Americans also have the highest level of Congressional representation of any other minority group in the U.S. African Americans tend to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats in U.S. elections. Even most conservative African Americans tend to vote for Democrats. In the 2004 Presidential Election, Democrat John Kerry received 88 percent of the African American vote compared to 11 percent for Republican George W. Bush.(www.wikipedia.org)

The contemporary challenge for black politics goes beyond the capture of elective office, participation in conventional political arenas, and placement of concerns of black citizens on public agendas. The larger challenge concerns effective representation of black interests in all the significant arenas of policy formulation: elite and nonelite, public and private. (Wornie L. Reed, 1993: 108) Struggle for political representation by black Americans in America has been an arduous task with victories and setbacks alike. As the nation moved into the twenty -first century African Americans became full players in the power game of politics in America.

While government alone cannot solve many of the seemingly intractable problems in the black community, it can play a vital role. Public policies in the areas of equal employment opportunity, education, employment training and health care can improve the employment opportunities and the well-being of millions.

As a form of representative democracy, the American republic is dedicated to the principle that government should be responsive to the needs of all the people, not just certain populations within society. Why, then, are conditions so deplorable for so many African Americans? One key to government responsiveness to blacks is the representation of black interests by those formally in positions to make policy decisions.

( Dewey M. Clayton ,2000: 13)

The participation of the African Americans in politics was for many years a continue attempt with no big success. African American history, racism, discrimination, all of these factors kept the black candidates of being elected and having access to the American politics. When blacks have run, they have tended to lose. Since the 1960`s, there have been twenty one Africans Americans major party nominees for the Senate (eleven Democrats, ten Republicans) and ten for governor (nine Democrats, one Republican).

Only four of the Senate nominees were successful (Edward Brooke twice in Massachusetts and Carol Mosley Braun and Barack Obama once each in Illinois). Of the ten nominees for governor only Douglas Wilder was successful. Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley ran a very competitive race for governor in California in 1982 and Harvey Gantt for Senate from North Carolina in 1990. Otherwise, the African American nominees ran largely symbolic campaigns with little realistic chance of winning.

Despite these seemingly daunting odds, in 2006 a relatively large number of blacks ran either for Democratic or Republic nominations for governor of Senate.

The most extensive study of blacks running for higher office in the United States finds that the presence of a black Democrat on the ballot increases black turnout ( the presence of a black Republican has no effect on black turnout), while the presence of a black of either part increases white turnout (Washington,2006). Although the percentage increases are about the same for both races, the actual increase is much greater for whites given the larger size of the white population. And both white Democrats and Republicans are less likely to vote for their party`s nominee when she or he is black.

The U.S political system claims to sustain about half a million elected offices, most of which are low lever community offices in special districts, local education boards, and the like. (Robert J McKeever, Philip Davies ,2006 :100) Inevitably most of the offices held by blacks fall into the essential, but relative mundane areas of low lever community politics, but senior office holders are also being elected from the black community. Black mayors numbered numbered 451 in 2001. These were elected mainly in relatively small communities, but 47 black mayors were from cities with populations of 50,000 or more. Statewide office is a more difficult challenge for candidates from any group, but 33 African -Americans occupied such positions in 2001, about two-thirds of them serving as justices in the senior courts of their states. The number of black elected officials has not only grown over the last generation, it is clearly being replenished as young candidates replace those who have reached the end of theirs political careers, or who retire to move on to other pursuits. A turnover of about 25 per cent of black office-holders in the three year period up to 2000 suggested the existence of a healthy pool of political talent in the African American population.

( Robert J McKeever, Philip Davies, 2006: 100)

Nevertheless, the 2006 elections suggested that among ambitious black politicians the perceptions of these racial and ideological boundaries to higher office may be diminished. It appears that this third wave of black politicians see an America where they can aspire to the highest offices in the land, including president.

After the election of the second wave of black elected officials in 1989, African American political scientists employed the concept of deracialization to explain what some saw as a new phenomenon in black politics. McCormick and Jones` seminal paper (1993) identified for defining elements of a deracialized campaign. First, the candidate employs a political style that is "non- threatening" to the white majority. Second, the candidate avoids explicit appeals to blacks. Third, the candidates avoids the use of race in mobilization the black vote. Finally, the candidate emphasizez racially transcendent issues in order to mobilize the vote of whites.

Critics of deracialization argued to some extent that there was nothing new about this style of campaigning by blacks. As McCormick and Jones wrote: "If deracialization as a successful electoral strategy leads it practitioners to ignore the policy-oriented concerns of African Americans, then we should rightly dismiss their political behavior as non-legitimate expressions of black politics"( Georgia Ann Persons 2007: 326).

All of the 2006 candidates ran deracialized campaigns, with the exception of Steele in Maryland. In an ironic twist, Steele sought to radicalize his campaign in order to attract black voters, while taking the vote of his conservative, white Republican base for granted. In Tennessee, Ford who began planning to run for the Senate as soon as he was elected to the House in 1996, ran a textbook deracialized campaign, but this campaign was the most racialized of the six , contributing in a major way to his defeat

(Georgia Ann Persons, 2007)

Although only one of the six candidates won the 2006 election (Patrick in Massachusetts) and the Obama presidential campaign suggest that a new structure of ambition is emergent among black politicians, who perceive, perhaps correctly, than the white electorate in the twenty-first century is willing to vote for an ideologically and culturally mainstream black candidates for any office. This was certainly a sign of growth and development in American politics, but it also man mean the continued decay of black politics.

2.2 Barack Obama - from mission impossible to mission accomplished

Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, in November 2008, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive. The election of Barack Obama amounted to a national catharsis - a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and foreign policies, and an embrace of his call for a change in the direction and the tone of the country. But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation's fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago

(www.nytimes.com/2008/11/05/us /politics/05elect.html

Democrat Barack Obama, then-junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior United States Senator from Arizona.

Barack Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961. His father, Barack Obama Sr., was born and raised in a small village in Kenya, where he grew up herding goats with his own father, who was a domestic servant to the British.

Barack's mother, Ann Dunham, grew up in small-town Kansas. Her father worked on oil rigs during the Depression, and then signed up for World War II after Pearl Harbor, where he marched across Europe in Patton's army. Her mother went to work on a bomber assembly line, and after the war, they studied on the G.I. Bill, bought a house through the Federal Housing Program, and moved west to Hawaii.

(www.barackobama.com /learn/meet_barack.php

It was there, at the University of Hawaii, where Barack's parents met. His mother was a student there, and his father had won a scholarship that allowed him to leave Kenya and pursue his dreams in America.

Barack's father eventually returned to Kenya, and Barack grew up with his mother in Hawaii, and for a few years in Indonesia. Later, he moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983.

Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment. (www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php

The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate. (www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php

It has been the rich and varied experiences of Barack Obama's life - growing up in different places with people who had differing ideas - that have animated his political journey. Amid the partisanship and bickering of today's public debate, he still believes in the ability to unite people around a politics of purpose - a politics that puts solving the challenges of everyday Americans ahead of partisan calculation and political gain.

In the Illinois State Senate, this meant working with both Democrats and Republicans to help working families get ahead by creating programs like the state Earned Income Tax Credit, which in three years provided over $100 million in tax cuts to families across the state. He also pushed through an expansion of early childhood education, and after a number of inmates on death row were found innocent, Senator Obama worked with law enforcement officials to require the videotaping of interrogations and confessions in all capital cases.

In the U.S. Senate, he has focused on tackling the challenges of a globalized, 21st century world with fresh thinking and a politics that no longer settles for the lowest common denominator. His first law was passed with Republican Tom Coburn, a measure to rebuild trust in government by allowing every American to go online and see how and where every dime of their tax dollars is spent. He has also been the lead voice in championing ethics reform that would root out Jack Abramoff-style corruption in Congress. (www.barackobama.com/learn/meet_barack.php

As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Obama has fought to help Illinois veterans get the disability pay they were promised, while working to prepare the VA for the return of the thousands of veterans who will need care after Iraq and Afghanistan. Recognizing the terrorist threat posed by weapons of mass destruction, he traveled to Russia with Republican Dick Lugar to begin a new generation of non-proliferation efforts designed to find and secure deadly weapons around the world. And knowing the threat we face to our economy and our security from America's addiction to oil, he's working to bring auto companies, unions, farmers, businesses and politicians of both parties together to promote the greater use of alternative fuels and higher fuel standards in our cars.

Whether it's the poverty exposed by Katrina, the genocide in Darfur, or the role of faith in our politics, Barack Obama continues to speak out on the issues that will define America in the 21st century. But above all his accomplishments and experiences, he is most proud and grateful for his family. His wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Malia, 10,and Sasha, 7, live on Chicago's South Side.

(www.barackobama.com/learn /meet_barack.php

2.3 The first African American president sweeps away the racial barrier in American politics

Racial issues continue to be an important aspect of American politics. The Obama campaign illustrates the progress people of color have made in winning public office, and it allows us to explore the role race plays in politics today. The candidacy of Barack Obama permits an examination of the changing climate and political culture for minority politicians. (Martin Dupuis, Keith Boeckelman, 2008: 73,74)

Nowhere was the elaction over Barack Obama's victory greater than in the black communities of south Los Angeles. Not only was an African American elected President, but the whole campaign was re-energizing the political hopes of African American politicians. They remember how Obama's election was foreshadowed 35 years ago right there, when Tom Bradley became the first African American mayor of a major American city.(kcet.org/socal/2008/11/power-politics.html)

But since the mid-1980s, African American political fortunes have waned. Their share of L.A.'s population has gone from 17 to around 10 percent, while Latinos have risen to 47 percent. That's meant a quadrupling of Latino elected politicians, and a dramatic drop in the number of Blacks. Tensions between the two groups were on the rise, as Black politicians saw their power diminish. Had their time come and gone? Maybe not, now that the Obama phenomenon has redefined political power as something that goes beyond racially-based concerns, and embraces coalition-building as the wave of the future. As it was 35 years ago, Los Angeles' experience may provide the model for African American politics. ( kcet.org/socal/2008/11/power-politics.html)

Ethnic and racial groups in America may have criticism of the policy and its policies as regards their own groups, but it rarely prompts them to see themselves as anything other than American. African Americans now, as in earlier eras such as the period of the civil rights movement , point to equality of opportunity rather than discrimination as being the necessary outcome of policy, though there can be heated debate on whether this is best achieved by trusting in the benign if circuitous route of history, or intervening with affirmative action.

It was the fate of the United States of America to build a nation founded on the mixed heritage of many nations, ethnicities and races. This has not always been a comfortable melding of communities under one flag, as was indicated when the southern enslavement of African- Americans was initially protected in the US Constitution. Resources are not evenly distributed between America`s racial and ethnic communities, and new migrant groups can still find it difficult to find a place in American society. (Robert J McKeever, Philip Davies ,2006 : 100,101)

On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act to ensure that all Americans receive equal pay for equal work. The President is committed to expanding funding for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to ensure that voting rights are protected and Americans do not suffer from increased discrimination during a time of economic distress. President Obama also continues to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and believes that the anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

President Obama recognizes that American civil rights laws and principles are at the core of the nation. He has spent much of his career fighting to strengthen civil rights - as a community organizer, civil rights lawyer, Illinois State Senator, U.S. Senator, and now as President. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/CIVIL_RIGHTS/ "The White House,Civil Righs)

Race worked as a positive factor for Obama in two important ways. First it provided him with a crucial base of support inside the Democratic Party,helping him in many of primary contests, including such decisive victories as South Carolina early on and North Carolina toward the end. South Carolina was the critical early test , and the African American vote had to be wrenched away from Hillary Clinton. But for every action in politics there is a reaction. Obama`s gains in the black community were partially offset by losses among working and downscale white voters,whom BillClinton courted on his whife`s behalf. The racial aspect of this division was later exagerated by a self- inflicted error, when Obama , in a "closed" speech given in San Francisco, spoke of Americans in small towns who "get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to peoplewho aren`t like them..as a way to explain their frustrations". These people were of course white, but the point was taken to be not so much about race as about "class" with "class" understood in terms of educational status and sophistication. The anti-Obama sentiment tat emerged as a result was demographically racial, but it was inspired by what was seen as a "class" slight coming from the elite.

( James W. Ceaser, Andrew E. Busch, John J. Pitney, 2009 :27)

Second, race provided an enormous reservoir of goodwill and a source of moral authority for Obama with large parts of the educated white professional classes . To look to an African American as a leader was a way of participating in historical progress. Indeed Obama played on this aspiration rather openly. To be a part of the "religion" of humanity, to help overcome past and present injustice.

Race was therefore far more on the surface during the intra- Democratic nomination contest than it ever was in the interparty final election campaign. In fact, race was rarely mentioned directly by either side in this later stage, except to commend the historic milestone that Obama campaign represented.

Yet the almost complete complete absence of this issue on the surfacewas one of the most remarkable and important aspects of the general election campaign. Of course, race played a role in voting behavior. The African American community, already overwhelmingly Democratic, voted even more Democratic in 2008 and turned out in larger numbers. Many others undoubtedly voted against of for Barack Obama for reasons related to his race. But, emerging from the contest, there were no visible scars of racism attached to the nation or to Republican Party. This result leaves open to the possibility that race will diminish as an issue in national electoral politics in future.

(James W. Ceaser, Andrew E. Busch, John J. Pitney, 2009 :28)

The great man Barack Obama once said :

"I have asserted a firm conviction - a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice is we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union."

(https://www.america.gov/st/usg-english/2009/January/20090114093309jmnamdeirf0. 989422.html)

"For the African-American community, that path means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past. It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances - for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans -- the white woman struggling to break the glass ceiling, the white man whose been laid off, the immigrant trying to feed his family. And it means taking full responsibility for own lives - by demanding more from our fathers, and spending more time with our children, and reading to them, and teaching them that while they may face challenges and discrimination in their own lives, they must never succumb to despair or cynicism; they must always believe that they can write their own destiny".(www.amnation.com/vfr/archives/010208.html, Final Summing of the meaning of Obama`s speech by Lawrence Auster)

But he has already transformed attitudes on race and on race and on tolerance, and he has just begun. Both for younger, more tolerant Americans who are electrified by his promises, and for an older generation of more conservative whites and skeptical of racial preferences, Obama shines out as the biracial African American who, against all odds, succeeded based on sheer merit. After a generation of blacks helped up to the ladder by affirmative action, Obama is not a black man who got to his present position thanks to the need for racial symbolism, he is what Americans of goodwill dreamed could occur once we put racism behind us.( Robert Kuttner , 2008:17)

CHAPTER III

THE CONDITION OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN NOWADAYS

African American woman step up to business world

Issues facing contemporary African American women that affect their caregiving roles to children and other family members continue to be reminiscent of those in the past, but there are additional concerns. Unlike many white middle-class women who choose to work outside the home as a liberating alternative to the traditional sex-based caregiver and homemaker role, for most African American women, like other oppressed and poor ethnic groups of women, work outside the home has been and continues to be an economic necessity for their families.

Moreover, for many African American women the necessity to work outside their homes has meant providing daily service to others in the form of domestic labor for white employers. A part of being caregiver and nurturer both to their families and to those of their employers has meant struggling to maintain balance in their duties and responsibilities.( Norma J. Burgess, Eurnestine Brown, 2000:86)

Although work outside the home is usually an economic necessity outside the realm of their choice, and this work imposes limitations upon their opportunities for self actualization in other ways, African American women`s work expresses an ethic of care on two levels. Work outside the home obviously contributes to the care of children in an immediate economic sense. As a long term issue, work outside the home represents an ethic or personal accountability, self -reliance and the value of striving for more than one`s proscribed place as an African American person in society. Work, then, is not a in opposition to motherhood , but an important part of the conceptualization of African American motherhood. ( Norma J. Burgess, Eurnestine Brown, 2000:86, 87)

African American women have seen many advances in their economic status in past decades. They have increased their educational attainment more quickly than white women have, and they have moved into increasingly stable, diverse, and well playing jobs.

While the unemployment rate in January 2008 was 4.9 percent, it was 7.3 percent for adult African American women and 8.3 percent for African American men. Moreover, a full million more African American women held jobs than African American men, with 8.3 million black women and 7.3 million African American men working. The underemployment of African American men represents a burden to the black women who, then, often shoulder disproportionate responsibility in supporting households and children without sufficient contribution from spouses, partners or fathers.

There are other important critical economic realities that shape the status of African American women. While more likely to be employed than African American men, African American women earn lower wages than black men and white women do, with white women earning a median $663 per week in 2007, compared to $ 629 for African Americans men and $ 566 for African American women. All three groups earn less than white men, whose 2007 weekly median earnings were $ 850. And while black women represent two- thirds of all African Americans undergraduates, and the majority of graduates students, African American women are less likely than African American men to reach the pinnacle of their occupations, especially in corporate America. (www.juliannemalveaux.com/downloads/The_status_of_African_American_women.pdf , The status of African American women: shouldering the third burden, by Julianne Malveaux).

A focus of women at the top should not preclude attention to the material struggles for African American women at the bottom of the economic spectrum. As presented in the chapter I of these paper one in four African American people, and more then 40 percent of African American children live in poverty. Many of these poor are working poor-women who earn little more than the minimum wage in service occupations, especially as home wealth workers , janitors and cleaners, and in other occupations.(www.juliannemalveaux.com/downloads/The_status_of_African_American_women.pdf , The status of African American women: shouldering the third burden, by Julianne Malveaux)

These women almost always lack sick leave, health care, and benefits that other workers take for granted. They struggle to make ends meet, often bridging the gap between living expenses and inadequate paychecks with credit cards and other forms of high-interest debt .

Since the 1980`s, women head more than 40 percent of African American families. The majority of African- American children grow up in households headed by women. While there is nothing inherently wrong with female- headed households by women, it seems that children who grow up in healthy, intact families are less likely to be involved in violence and more likely to be unemployed and incarcerated , and are often unwilling and unable to make long-term family commitments based on their economic status . African American women have had no choice but support the burden of family leadership in the African American community.

(www.juliannemalveaux.com/downloads/The_status_of_African_American_women.pdf , The status of African American women: shouldering the third burden, by Julianne Malveaux)

One of the main factors contributing to the growth of the earnings gap between black and white women is the growth in the demand for college educated workers. Although the number of black women with college degrees is increasing, the racial gap in educational attainment persists. As of March 2000, only 19.7 percent of black women who were in the labor force and who were between the ages of twenty- five and thirty-four years old had college diplomas, compared with 39 percent of white women.

In addition, young black women no longer have an edge in work experience. Labor force participation increased significantly over the last years among the most educated. As a result, by 2000 the black- white difference in labor force participation has disappeared: 60 percent of white women were in the labor force, compared with 65 percent of black women. Among younger women, those aged sixteen to twenty four years, labor force participation rates of white women exceeded those of black women. (Cecilia Conrad, James Stewart, 2005:160)

As educated white women have entered the labor market, they have moved into high- paying jobs as officers and managers in the private sector. Black women in these occupations tend to be concentrated in lower-paying , public- sector employment.

Once again education is not the whole story. Audit studies of employer behavior suggest that discrimination remains a factor in employment and promotion even if workers receive the same pay once hired.(Cecilia Conrad, James Stewart, 2005: 160)

But although the statistics are still not gladdening African American women economic status are developing.

The President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers.

Our society has made tremendous progress in eradicating barriers to women's success. Women make up a growing share of our workforce, and more women are corporate executives and business owners than ever before. Today, women are serving at the highest levels of all branches of our Government. (www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2009/June/20090610200528eaifas0.2174298.html White House Document on Advancing the Role of Women )

Despite this progress, certain inequalities persist. President Obama believes that women have a right to receive equal pay for equal work no matter if they are black or white.

After all the struggle and the negative aspects that are still floating above their carrers , African American women step up in business world. Thousands of African American women are starting businesess in a trend that`s tipping the balance of economic power in the black community.(www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2006-08-24-women-biz-usat_x.htm , African American women step up for business world, by Jim Hopkins)

As women take entrepreneurship`s lead, marketers from banks to tech companies are tapping black women as a new source of revenue.

Black women are launching companies for many of the same reasons spurring other women. They've gained corporate experience, they are better educated. Self-employment offers more flexibility to care for children and aging parents.

(www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2006-08-24-women-biz-usat_x.htm, African American women step up for business world, by Jim Hopkins)

3.2 From Rap to Politics: Can African American women lead the way?

From Rosa Parks who changed a nation when she refused to give up her seat to a white man in 1955 to the new African American First Lady, Michelle Obama , the journey taken by African-American women on the roads to empowerment has been a bumpy one. From a distance Michelle`s promotion or the exceptional success of a public personality such as the talk show queen Oprah Winfrey may indicate a better access to keys positions for Black women who make up 13,1 percent of the American population. But is there a concrete correlation between the individual achievements of some African-American women and the current status of the communities to which they belong? (www.voices-unabridged.org/liste.php?id_rub=1&numero=4, From Rap to Politics: Can African-American Women Lead the Way , by Damien Bonelli)

African - American women focuses on the fascinating Michelle Obama and on what she might be able to do, not just for the country, but for the women of color too. Every time Michelle Obama appears as first lady, the combination of her professional and domestic success challenges stereotypical media images of black women in America. As the first black woman to become first lady of the United States, Michelle Obama is shattering generations-old stereotypes about black women and working mothers. To have a black woman in that position brings black women into the forefront as full-fledged American women and, more importantly , it affirms black women's womanhood, their humanity, their femininity Indeed, black women today are more likely to achieve higher education degrees than black men as black women earn 57 percent of all bachelor's and professional degrees awarded to African Americans, according to Census Bureau data. More education generally translates into higher earning power.

Thus, Michelle Obama presents another important image: a black woman who is successful professionally but also a devoted mother and wife.(https://www.america.gov/st /econ-english/2009/January/20090126163119BErehelleK0.5277063.html,Michelle Obama Presents Modern Image for Black Women, by Katherine Lewis)

Michelle Obama is making many racist-thinking people very uncomfortable as she shatters their world of stereotypical assumptions through spreading goodwill, knowledge, and a solid persona of the African-American woman all over the world.

America is not accustomed to a black woman in Michelle Obama's position receiving such favorable recognition and feedback. The norm has always been to support rappers and entertainers who humiliate and degrade black women and make a mockery of their own race. America is accustomed to hearing rhetoric that contributes to the emotional, psychological, spiritual, and cultural extermination of black race by African Americans. The music industry has made billions stomping on the dignity of black women.(https://colorsnw.com/colors/2009/04/14/michelle-obama-true-image-of-african-american-women/ Michelle Obama: True Image of an African American Woman, by H. Lewis Smith)

One of the most influential African American women, Oprah Winfrey is truly a source of undying inspiration for many and has touched millions of lives with her work. Oprah has achieved many 'famous firsts' by being the first African American syndicated talk show host, or by being the first African American woman billionaire. Oprah owns her own production house, which is responsible for the Oprah Winfrey show, the O Magazine, Oxygen Network, Oprah's Angel Networks and the famous Oprah Book Club. In 1993 Oprah also campaigned for a special bill called the 'Oprah bill', which was aimed at providing a national database of convicted child abusers. Oprah has been a part of several movies and television productions. Owing to her success she has been able to contribute towards social improvement.(www.buzzle.com/articles/famous-african-american-women.html,Famous African American Women, By Uttara Manohar)

She has always chosen to donate for several causes, especially the ones stressing education. As a part of Oprah's Angel Network she gives $100,000 awards to people who are helping others in significant ways. Oprah has won a lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in1998. Time Magazine has also named her as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century.

Every weekday in the USA, 20 million people watch the Oprah Winfrey Show, making it the most -watched daytime programme. The show has become a common source of information and opinions about relationships and gender. It is a cultural icon, signifying at the same time lurid dilemmas, emotional intensity, fame and black women`s success.( Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Ann Phoenix, 2000: 63)

While Winfrey often says the show transcends 'race', it features black guests and issues of concern to black people in the USA more than comparable shows and focuses particularly on black women`s perspective. (Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Ann Phoenix,1994:64)

These two successful women - Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey proved that African American women can lead the way and they can defeat racial barriers and oppression they suffer for decades. In politics, in television, in all social and cultural domains African American women succeed and demonstrate that their sisters struggle for generations achieved its goal.

Freedom of choice for African American women. Black and white marriage in contemporary America

It looks like Black women have found a way to resolve the problem with the 'shortage' of Black men. Black women have begun to expand their options, within recent years, by dating outside of their race.( www.luvshades.com/interracialdating/interracia l16.htm, Why More Black Women are Dating White Men, Jet Article)

The reason for this increase in more Black women dating White men may be attributed to educational attainment. Women who go to college and graduate want someone with the same educational level or more. Black men just aren't there. That could be one reason why more Black women are dating White men.

Until recently, the phrase 'interracial couple' usually meant one thing: a Black man and a White woman. Not today. As evidenced by these recent real-life personal ads, all across the country there's a brand-new wave washing over our traditional notions about interracial love. The fact is, interracial love and marriage are touching the lives of everyday working Black women. Take a look at the statistics. Government figures confirm that the number of Black women marrying White men is both substantial and growing. According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, in 1987 there were 56,000 Black women married to White men. That's 11,000 more than were married to White men at the decade's beginning in 1980. Interestingly and provocatively, many of the White man involved are formulating their own definition of beauty, even when it goes against traditional White standards. (Ebony,1989,by Laura B. Randolph)

And while most women of color still choose to marry inside their own race (98.5 percent of all Black married women are married to Black men), increasingly, they are dating and marrying White men. And it isn't one-sided. Many White men are challenging fundamentalist notions of love and matrimony, in the process of dismissing long-standing social taboos by asking Black women to love and wed them.

When it comes to the lives of ordinary working Black women, what has so drastically shifted traditional attitudes on love and marriage? Experts say the reasons are as individual and diverse as the couples themselves. For many Black women, it comes down to the lack of availability of what they consider 'marriageable' Black men. There just aren't enough Black men, they say, in their educational, financial and professional levels. The numbers would suggest they have a point. According to the Census Bureau, in 1980 the total number of Blacks employed in professional occupations was 829,648. Of that number an overwhelming 66.5 percent (551,701) were women. (Ebony,1989,by Laura B. Randolph)

As we head into the new millennium, marrying mitt dating across cultural lines seem to be increasing at record rates.

Almost anywhere in America these days, you will encounter mixed-race couples: at the grocery store, the mall, the theater, at a company function, at: a concert, even at church. And while for years the Black man-White woman couple was more prevalent, today many social observers say that the pairing of Black women and White men is just as common.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1997 there were 311,000 interracial (Black-White) married couples, more than six times as many as in 1960. Of those, 201,000 were comprised of a Black husband and White wife, while there were 110,000 couples in which the husband was White and the wife Black. Some estimate that today 10 percent of married Black men have mates of another race. (Ebony,march1989, by Laura B. Randolph)

Alvin Poussaint, MD, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard School, says there is an increase in interracial marriages this time because Black people are moving more more into what he refers to as the 'mainstream of American society,' and social barriers are dissolving. He and others also say that taboos against interracial dating and marriage are easing.( Ebony,1999 :220)

'Some of the negative attitudes toward interracial marriage have been lifted considerably,' says Dr. Poussaint. 'Today you see young people watching MTV [where they see Whites and Blacks interacting in the music videos]. You see more mixed dating and mixed couples. This has become less taboo. You also see an easing of a kind of Black-consciousness mentality. There is not the same kind of pressure on Blacks who are thinking about dating or marrying interracially. That is easing up and allowing people to feel more accepted. When you go to a Links ball or to the Boule, you see people who are interracially married. No one tells them that they can't be accepted into the social group because they have married outside the race. Since there is no social sanction in the Black community, people feel free to say, `I like this person and this is what I want to do, so I'll do it.''( Ebony,1999 :220)

The specific reasons behind the escalating trend of dating and mating across color and racial lines vary from individual to individual. Some Black women say they were attracted to their White spouses because they had found it difficult to meet Black men on their social and income levels. Others say their mates treat them well and share common interests.

While interracial mating is more accepted in today's society, there nevertheless are stereotypes and other negative aspects to be considered. Society in general has a history of frowning on Black-White marriages, and despite integration elsewhere, many people in the White as well as the Black communities do not approve of integration in relationships. Many Black women feel betrayed by the Brother who marries a White woman, especially those who show a preference for other women. The problem is exacerbated by Black men who exclude Black women in favor of White women due to what some call 'racial brainwashing.' Black women are annoyed, to say the least, by Black men who say they favor White women because Black women are 'not as feminine,' 'too strong,' 'too demanding. (Ebony, March,1989

This year marks the 42 anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional laws barring racial intermarriage in Virginia and 15 other states. The 1967 ruling came about after a mixed couple in Central Point, Va., Richard and Mildred Loving (she is Black), challenged Virginia's 1924 antimiscegenation statute in response to their being forced by local law officials to either live apart, go to jail or leave the state.( Ebony, Sept, 1992   by Lynn Norment)

Today, there are more than a million interracial couples in the United States with about two-thirds of them involving Black men and White women. However, social observers note that Black women increasingly are dating and marring White men.

CONCLUSION

African Americans are now on the beginning of a new era. The economy, politics, the social aspects for African American men and women are blooming year by year.

Although the African American population still fights with important aspects like poverty, health, education, race problems they are now a community that is changing for the better.

Throughout their sufferings and ordeals, the people of African descent who were brought involuntarily to this country found the courage and creativity to 'make themselves.' They constructed their own unique rituals, traditions and symbols; a distinct spirituality, music, art, dance and folklore; a rich cultural heritage, kinship and community; and a complex body of political and social ideas about the contradictory nature of American democracy and the position of black people within it. In effect, black Americans made their own history, although not always in the manner in which they chose, because they were encumbered by the constraints of institutional racism and white privilege.

The new elected first African American President Barack Obama brings hope not only for the African American people but all for all people living in America. After years of oppression ,contemporary African Americans seem that they can take any challenge and win it.

In summary, being classified as African American is quite significant because it reflects an important social group transformation and reality in terms of group identity, political orientation, life chances or social opportunity, normative standards and lifestyles, and discriminatory behavior.

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