Behind Obama all the way

The problems of African Americans are unique and require direct, immediate solutions. But the perception has always been that if you help African Americans, you’re giving us special treatment and special programs that benefit us at the detriment of everyone else. As long as that perception exists, and President Obama and his team know that it does, he cannot and will not be seen providing things directly for “his” people. 

The reality is that while, yes, African-American voters will support him no matter what, we don’t even come close to making up a voting bloc that really matters. The reality is that he does need the votes of mainstream whites nationwide – and liberal Latinos – to win reelection. If Obama loses them, he’s done and then we’ll really never get anything for the black community.

The most important thing Martin Luther King Jr. and the movement did was build a broad, American, liberal consensus to push Congress and the White House to pass significant, lasting legislation to end segregation and restore voting rights. That broad consensus was needed to change the perception of Americans that civil rights wasn’t a black issue, that it wasn’t blacks seeking something special – that it was an American issue, with blacks fighting for rights they already had in the U.S. Constitution.

Just Obama being in office has stirred up a hornet’s nest of racism. Will it be worth it if he winds up being a one-and-done president? It isn’t to me – no way. We need this man in the presidency for two full terms for so many reasons. I’m not willing to risk losing the chance to see him really turn this country around and truly change the perceptions of Americans about the capabilities and possibilities of black leadership. So Tavis and Cornel can criticize him all they want to – I’m behind him all the way.

Vikki J. Vickers

Ogden, UT