Bill Carmichael: How Obama widened US race divide

When Barack Obama became the first black President of the United States hopes were high that his election would herald a transformative period of racial healing in a bitterly divided country.
Barack Obama became US President in 2008. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Barack Obama became US President in 2008. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Barack Obama became US President in 2008. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Obama, who has always suffered from something of a Messiah complex, ramped up expectations to entirely unrealistic levels when he told his adoring followers in 2008 “this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal”.

After seven and a half years of his Presidency how is all that ‘hopey-changey’ stuff working out for average America? Well if you are a black American the answer is that it isn’t working out all that well at all.

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The simple fact is that in both material and social terms black America has gone backwards during Obama’s term in office.

On most measures – including average incomes, numbers below the poverty line, home ownership, and the numbers in receipt of welfare such as food stamps – black Americans are now worse off than they were under Obama’s much-maligned predecessor George Bush.

But it is the field of race relations where Obama’s time in office can only be described as an unmitigated disaster. America is now more bitterly divided on racial lines than it has been for a quarter of a century. Race riots have returned to many cities for the first time since the dark days of the 1960s, and radical groups – egged on by foolish and irresponsible left wingers in the media – have declared war on law enforcement agencies.

The tragic result has been several instances of the cold-blooded murder of police officers going about their duty, and a lasting legacy of division, hatred and mistrust.

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So where did it all go wrong? Why have the high hopes for the Obama presidency been so comprehensively dashed? The answer lies in Obama’s refusal to confront some of the uncomfortable truths about the racial divide in America.

For example, one key reason why black people are disproportionately represented in the prison population is that they are also disproportionately represented as perpetrators of violent crime.

Black people represent about 13 per cent of the US population, and yet are responsible for more than 52 per cent of homicides, according to statistics from the Bureau of Justice.

Between 2011 and 2013 38 per cent of people arrested for murder, rape, manslaughter, robbery and aggravated assault were black.

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It is also worth noting that black people are also hugely more likely to be the victims of violent crime. The numbers of black on black killings dwarf the numbers of black men killed by the police – around 4,472 a year compared to around 112 a year.

Of course much of this can be blamed on the higher levels of poverty and deprivation within the black community – but to simply blame it all on racism is clearly bunkum.

Other factors are no doubt the gang culture prevalent in many cities, welfare dependency and the high levels of family breakdown in black communities, caused by men walking out on partners with young children.

Since the 1960s there has been a wholesale collapse of the family structure in black communities with devastating consequences. Around 85 per cent of all black American children in poverty now live in single parent, mother-only homes.

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But rather than meeting these difficult issues head-on President Obama has dodged the problem. Instead he has taken the easy route by blaming racism by whites for the problems of black America.

According to this false narrative America is an irredeemably racist society in which blacks are subjugated and exploited.

In fact, despite isolated pockets of racism and discrimination, America remains a land of opportunity for people of all races – certainly more so than most other countries across the globe.

Instead of celebrating this fact – and encouraging black people to take advantage of the life chances on offer – Obama has chosen to add his weight to a destructive culture of victimhood and resentment that ultimately leads nowhere.

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The result is a country riven by division, where police officers trying to protect communities – including, it should be said, courageous black officers – face being hunted down by fanatics.

It isn’t a legacy the US’s first black president should be proud of.

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