235 “the 46-year transition” David A. Bositis, “Resegregation of Southern Politics?” Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Civic Engagement and Government Institute, November 2011.
236 “Republicans in control” Ibid.
238 It was a bizarre Melissa Harris-Perry, “Cornel West v. Barack Obama,” The Nation, May 17, 2011.
240 “Take off your bedroom slippers” “Obama Tells Congressional Black Caucus to ‘Stop Complaining,’ ” Associated Press, September 25, 2011.
That reticence rankled Frederick C. Harris, “The Price of a Black President,” New York Times, October 27, 2012.
245 “If I had a son” Remarks by the President on the Nomination of Dr. Jim Kim for World Bank President, Rose Garden, White House, September 23, 2012, transcript.
Chapter 10: Victory
248 Polls showed African Americans TheGrio.com/NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, November 7, 2011.
And there was the math Ronald Brownstein, “Obama Needs 80% of Minority Vote to Win 2012 Presidential Election,” National Journal, August 24, 2012.
258 On the podium, Obama launched Obama Commencement Speech at Morehouse College, May 19, 2013, as prepared for delivery.
259 “the scold of black America” Ta-Nehisi Coates, “How the Obama Administration Talks to Black America,” The Atlantic, May 20, 2013.
260 “To expect the president to introduce” Jonathan Capehart, “Obama Can’t Win with Some Black Critics,” Washington Post, May 21, 2013.
261 In August 2013, conservative writer Ross Douthat, “Republicans, White Voters and Racial Polarization,” Evaluations blog, New York Times, August 6, 2013.
262 By 2010, researchers at Brown University Thomas B. Edsall, “The Persistence of Racial Resentment,” Opinionator blog, newyorktimes.com, February 6, 2013.
264 “Our country has changed” Opinion of the Court in Shelby County v. Holder, June 25, 2013.
Civil rights groups also noted John G. Roberts Jr., Supreme Court Nominee Profile, National Council of Jewish Women, September 2005.
In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Dissenting Opinion in Shelby County v. Holder, June 25, 2013.
265 “Throwing out preclearance” Ibid.
266 “We will not allow” Statement from the U.S. Department of Justice on the filing of lawsuit regarding Texas Voter ID law, August 22, 2013.
Texas governor Rick Perry accused Hilary Hylton, “Eric Holder Takes the Fight for Voting Rights to Texas,” Time, July 27, 2013.
“Once again, Perry said” Ibid.
267 Perry was joined by Texas senator Senator John Cornyn, “Voter ID Protects Voter Equality,” op-ed, Austin American-Statesman, August 8, 2013.
267 Greg Abbott, the state’s attorney general Attorney General Abbott Statement on DOJ Lawsuits Challenging Texas Voter ID and Redistricting Laws, August 22, 2013.
“respect the call for calm reflection” Statement by the President on the George Zimmerman verdict, White House, Office of the Press Secretary, July 14, 2013.
268 Michelle Alexander, a law professor Michelle Alexander interview, Democracy Now!, July 17, 2013.
Civil rights leaders, including Interview with Jesse Jackson, CNN, July 18, 2013.
“an opportunity for us not to kick the can” Edward-Isaac Dovere, “President Obama Keeps Quiet on Race—Again,” Politico, July 16, 2013.
269 “On multiple occasions, Obama has” Janet Langhart Cohen, “After Zimmerman Verdict, Obama Needs to Speak About Racism,” op-ed, Washington Post, July 16, 2013.
Three days after the verdict Text of Attorney General Eric Holder’s Address to the NAACP Annual Convention, July 16, 2013, Orlando, Florida.
271 “You know, when Trayvon Martin” Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin, James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, White House, July 19, 2003.
272 “For those who resist that idea” Ibid.
273 “He represents the same damn stuff” The Rush Limbaugh Show, July 22, 2013, transcript.
274 Polls, meanwhile, showed the repeat “Big Racial Divide over Zimmerman Verdict,” Pew Research poll, July 22, 2013.
Chapter 11: Fracture
278 Five years later, in 1998 B. Drummond Ayres Jr., “Political Briefing; Black Voters Exiting This Campaign Bus,” New York Times, July 13, 1998.
279 On Tuesday, as protests continued Statement from President Obama on the death of Michael Brown, White House, August 12, 2014.
282 “To be clear, I didn’t have” Marc Lamont Hill, “Obama, Can’t You See Black Anger in Ferguson?” CNN, August 15, 2014.
The president may have disappointed members Jamie Schram and Bob Fredericks, “Law-Enforcement Head Criticizes Obama for Ferguson Response,” New York Post, August 15, 2014.
286 “Fuck the White House” Alexander Bolton, “Ferguson Protesters Say Obama Needs to Take Charge,” Hill, August 20, 2014.
288 “Imagine what we would feel Maggie Haberman and Katie Glueck, “Hillary Clinton Makes First Ferguson Remarks,” Politico, August 28, 2014.
289 “By siding with the black Gates” Jamelle Bouie, “Why Did Obama Say So Little About Ferguson?” Slate, August 18, 2014.
“twice as good and half as black” Ta-Nehisi Coates, “Fear of a Black President,” The Atlantic, August 22, 2012.
290 “This decision seems to underscore” Congressional Black Caucus statement on the grand jury’s decision in the case of Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, November 25, 2014.
“Which elected official disappointed” Jarvis DeBerry, “Ferguson Response Shows How Barack Obama Struggles to Be Black and President,” NOLA.com, November 28, 2014.
297 A scant 27 percent of white Americans NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, January 14–17, 2015.
Our political divisions were essentially racial Michael Tesler, “Donald Sterling Shows the Separate Realities of Democrats and Republicans About Race,” Monkey Cage blog, washingtonpost.com, May 1, 2014.
298 More than forty thousand people descended Casey Toner, “As ‘Selma’ Wows Hollywood Critics, White Flight and Poverty Haunt Selma,” AL.com, January 7, 2015.
300 “The Americans who crossed this bridge” “Remarks by the President at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery Marches,” Selma, Alabama, March 7, 2015, White House, Office of the Press Secretary.
302 “Just this week, I was asked” Ibid.
The speech drew broad praise Quin Hillyer, “Obama at Selma: A Beautifully Crafted Speech,” Corner blog, nationalreview.com, March 9, 2015.
303 “a pessimism about a present” Charles Blow, “Race, History, a President, a Bridge: Obama and Selma: The Meaning of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ ” New York Times, March 8, 2015.
One black writer, Michael H. Cottman Michael H. Cottman, “Hillary Clinton Wants Our Vote—So Why Wasn’t She in Selma?” BlackAmericaWeb.com, March 10, 2015.
304 Several Obama cabinet secretaries Ironically, local organizers had broken with Congressman Lewis, who organized the annual pilgrimage to Selma, over the date of the major celebration and the president’s visit. Lewis insisted that the main event be held on Saturday, the actual fifty-year anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” while the local organizing committee wanted to keep the celebration on the first Sunday in March, as it had always been. The result was dual celebrations, and a great deal of acrimony between the two sides.
305 A CNN poll released on March 6 CNN/ORC International poll conducted by telephone, February 12–15, 2015, among a random sample of 1,027 adult Americans; released on March 6, 2015.
306 “use the inspiration of Selma” Zerlina Maxwell, “Flying with President Obama to Witness History in Selma,” Essence, March 8, 2015.
Epilogue
309 “take nothing for granted” Annie Karni, “Clinton Campaign Memo: No Drama This Time,” Politico, April 11, 2015.
311 A Gallup poll released on March 21 Frank Newport, “Clinton’s Top Selling Point in 2016: First Female President,” report on March 15–16 Gallup poll (released March 21, 2015).
315 by 5 to 8 percent in the Pew Poll Pew Research Poll, “A Deep Dive into Party Affiliation,” April 7, 2015.
INDEX
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Abbott, Greg, 265, 267
ABC News, 159, 160, 168
Abdul-Jabbar, Kareem (Lew Alcindor), 17
Abernathy, Ralph, 44
Abyssinian Baptist Church (Harlem), 69, 143, 225
Abzug, Bella, 34
ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), 91, 320
Adams, John, 172
Adams, John Quincy, 172
Advancement Project, 266
affirmative action, 84, 85, 97, 169, 170, 210, 296
Affordable Care Act, 207, 213, 214, 217–24, 247, 253, 294
Afghanistan, 232
Africa, Clinton’s visit to, 92–93
African American voter turnout. See black voter turnout
African National Congress, 43
Agnew, Phillip, 274–75
Agriculture Department, U.S., 73, 228–31
Ailes, Roger, 56
air traffic controllers strike, 43
Alabama Democratic Conference, 137
Al-Assad, Bashar, 280
Alexander, Clifford, Jr., 40
Alexander, Michelle, 268
Allen, George, 125
All in the Family (TV show), 26, 28–29
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 78
American Legislative Exchange Council, 250–51
Amsterdam News, 19, 20
Angelou, Maya, 139, 333n
Angry White Male, 80–81
anti-war movement, 14–19, 34–35
apartheid, 43, 48, 50, 65–66, 111
Apollo Theater (Harlem), 143–44
Apostolic Church of God (Chicago), 179, 180–81
Appiah, Kwame Anthony, 62
Apple, R. W., 53
Arafat, Yasser, 49
Armstrong, Louis, 173
Arsenio Hall Show, The (TV show), 69–70
assault weapons ban, 78, 109
Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), 91, 320
Atlantic, The (magazine), 36, 259, 279–80, 286
Attica Prison riot, 35
Atwater, Lee, 56, 158
Audacity of Hope, The (Obama), 128
Austin, Jerry, 51
Axelrod, David, 128–29, 168
Babbitt, Bruce, 51–52
Bachman, Michelle, 219
Bain Capital, 247
Baldwin, James, 300
Baraka, Amiri, 30
Barber, William, 266
Baseball Hall of Fame, 18
Baucus, Max, 221
Baumfree, Isabella (Sojourner Truth), 256
Beach, Walter, 17
Beatles, the, 5
Beck, Glenn, 217, 234
Beckel, Bob, 50
Begala, Paul, 68
Belafonte, Harry, 18
Belcher, Cornell, 268
Bell, Derrick, 62
Bell, Sean, 281
Benedict College, 142
Benghazi attacks, 263, 316
Benjamin, Rich, 273
Bennett College, 8
Bentsen, Lloyd, 56
Bethel AME Church (Harlem), 106
Bethesda Naval Hospital, 172
Bethune, Mary McLeod, 205
Beyoncé, 198, 253
Biden, Jill, 190
Biden, Joe
presidential election of 1988, 51–52
presidential election of 2008, 190, 215, 293
presidential election of 2016, 314, 320
Republican obstruction and, 206, 213
Birmingham church bombing, 4, 256
Black, Timuel, 111, 173
Black Codes, 96
black fatherhood and personal responsibility, Obama on, 179, 180–82, 256, 258–59
Black Institute, 320
Black Lives Matter movement, 277, 291, 317, 321
Black Panthers, 24, 30, 42
Black Power, 18, 19
black unemployment, 226, 240
black voter turnout
1936, 8–9
1948, 42
1972, 35, 39
1980, 42, 43
1984, 39–40, 95
1988, 53, 56–57
1992, 71
1994, 80–81
2000, 95
2006, 125, 127
2008, 193–94, 195, 252
2010, 235, 236–37
2012, 248, 250, 252
2014, 292–93
2016 potential, 314–15
Blackwell, Ken, 126
Blanco, Kathleen, 122
Blow, Charles, 302–3
Boehner, John, 221, 305
Bond, Christopher “Kit,” 278
Bond, Julian, 30, 110, 126, 148, 172, 274
Booker, Cory, 295
Bositis, David
Clinton and presidential election of 1992, 64, 65, 66–67
Clinton presidency and, 88, 137
Obama and presidential election of 2008, 194
on racially polarized voting, 235–36
on white working-class voters, 195
Boston Garden, 22
Bouie, Jamelle, 259, 286, 289
Bowman, Barbara Taylor, 200
Bowman, James Edward, 200
Boxer, Barbara, 72
Bradley, Bill, 106
Bradley, Tom, 129–30
Bradley Foundation, 251
Brady Bill, 109
Branch Davidians, 75
Brawley, Tawana, 61
Brazile, Donna, 135, 151
Breitbart, Andrew, 228, 230
Bright Hope Baptist Church (Philadelphia), 257
Broder, David S., 36
Brooke, Edward, 11, 13, 21, 29, 114, 116, 150
Brooks, Gwendolyn, 109
Brown, Corinne, 71, 100
Brown, James, 22, 43, 61
Brown, Jerry, 38, 64, 65, 70
Brown, Jim, 17
Brown, Michael, shooting in Ferguson, 276–92, 301–2
Brown, Ron, 58, 73–74
Brown Chapel AME (Selma, Alabama), 139–40, 302–3
Brownstein, Ron, 248
Brown v. Board of Education, 2, 9–10, 210
Buchanan, Pat, 80, 93, 96
Bunche, Ralph, 299
Burnette, Buck, 207
Burns, Will, 166
Bush, Barbara, 124
Bush, George H. W., 303, 316
poverty rate during presidency, 88
presidential election of 1988, ix–x, 56–57
presidential election of 1992, 70–71
Rodney King beating, 285
Bush, George W., 137, 316
Kanye and Hurricane Katrina, 119–25
Obama compared with, 233
presidential election of 2000, 94–95, 97, 98–99
presidential election of 2004, 108, 113
Selma 50th Anniversary, 298
Ted Kennedy’s funeral mass, 217
Tubbs Jones’s death, 187
Bush, John Ellis “Jeb,” 96, 97, 284, 320
Bush, Laura, 298
Bush v. Gore, 94–95, 97
“butterfly ballots,” in Florida, 96
Butts, Calvin, 69, 225
Byrd, Robert, 6
Byrne, Jane, 46
Cambridge Police Department, 214–15
Campbell, Ben Nighthorse, 71
Cantor, Eric, 218
Capehart, Jonathan, 259, 260
Carlos, John, 19
Carmichael, Stokely, 15, 18, 19, 148
Carter, Jimmy, xi, 36–41, 74, 303
presidential election of 1976, 37–40, 57
presidential election of 1980, x, 42, 43
Ted Kennedy’s funeral mass, 217
Cassell, Jack, 223–24
Castro, Fidel, 40
Castro, Julián, 261
CBS
News, 14, 34, 107
Center for American Progress, 249
Central Burial Association, 51
Central High Anniversary, 57
Central Park jogger case, 60
Chait, Jonathan, 259
Chaney, James, 6, 7
Chappaquiddick incident, 28
Chappelle-Nadal, Maria, 278
Chavis, Ben, 86
Chicago, 108–9, 114, 200–201
Chicago Bulls, 201
Chicago Defender, 203
Chicago Housing Authority, 200
Chicago Sunday Evening Club, 12
Chicago Tribune, 110, 167
Children’s Defense Fund, 78, 86–87
child tax credits, 88
Chisholm, Shirley, 29–30, 148
presidential bid of 1972, 32–33, 34, 42, 132, 144, 330–31n
Chock Full O’Nuts, 18
Chuck D, 66, 130
Church, Frank, 38
Church of God in Christ (Memphis) Convocation, 90
Cisneros, Henry, 73, 85
Civil Rights Act of 1957, 96
Civil Rights Act of 1964, 4–7, 11, 14, 21, 147–48
Civil Rights Act of 1968, 21
civil rights legislation, and LBJ, x, 1–9, 11, 20–21, 24, 27, 28, 147–48, 327n, 329n
civil rights movement, 1–8, 10, 20–21, 60, 210
Clark, Jim, 298
Clarkson, Kelly, 253
Clay, Cassius. See Muhammad Ali
Clay, William “Lacy,” 29–30, 278
Clayton, Eva M., 101
Cleaver, Emanuel, 58, 166–67, 219–20, 240, 278
Clinton, Bill
black supporters of, 58–59, 76–77, 78, 85–86, 89–95
Democratic Convention address (1988), 58
as “first black president,” xi, 94, 162, 303
health-care reform and Obama, 222
Jackson and, 57–58, 59, 63–64, 65–70, 73, 85, 88–89, 92, 93–94, 162, 205
midterm elections of 1994, 79–84
midterm elections of 2010, 235
O. J. Simpson verdict, 285
Obama comparison with, 193
presidency of, 73–81, 84–94, 98, 310, 316, 321
Africa visit, 92–93
Guinier nomination, 75–77
health-care fight, 75, 84, 85, 87, 90
New Covenant, 85–87
Omnibus Crime Bill, 77–78, 83
poverty rate, 88
welfare reform, 84–88, 102
presidential election of 1992, 57, 62–73, 181–82
presidential election of 1996, 87, 90
presidential election of 2008, 147, 158–62, 192–93
black America and Obama, 162–63
Clyburn and, 152, 153, 158, 161–62
convention speech, 189–90
Joyner radio call-in, 153–54