Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0014
R. Packer
In this chapter, I will review what I see as the essential characteristics of the Obama foreign policy style and analyze whether we can discern a clear “Obama doctrine” from his foreign policy actions and rhetoric. In order to do so, I will lay out the four major approaches to American foreign policy-making and then assess how Obama’s policies fit within these approaches. Obama’s early foreign policy moves emphasized reconciliation and a more focused approach on counterterrorism as opposed to regime change. However, domestic political and international geopolitical constraints came to limit his ambitions. As the first Black president, Obama’s initial soaring rhetoric of change was replaced by cautionary tales of avoiding mistakes. After laying out the four schools of American foreign policy (nationalist, realist, liberal institutionalist, neoconservative), I discuss Obama’s policy style—the “nonideological doctrine”—that was purposively deliberative and cautious, in contrast to the ideological Bush regime-change crusade. Obama was careful to weigh the costs and benefits of policy options, keeping an eye on his predilection that foreign affairs must not interfere with the domestic agenda. This caution, which avoided major commitments to overseas conflicts, came under criticism from both the Left and Right of the political spectrum.
{"title":"Foreign Policy during and after Barack Obama","authors":"R. Packer","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0014","url":null,"abstract":"In this chapter, I will review what I see as the essential characteristics of the Obama foreign policy style and analyze whether we can discern a clear “Obama doctrine” from his foreign policy actions and rhetoric. In order to do so, I will lay out the four major approaches to American foreign policy-making and then assess how Obama’s policies fit within these approaches. Obama’s early foreign policy moves emphasized reconciliation and a more focused approach on counterterrorism as opposed to regime change. However, domestic political and international geopolitical constraints came to limit his ambitions. As the first Black president, Obama’s initial soaring rhetoric of change was replaced by cautionary tales of avoiding mistakes. After laying out the four schools of American foreign policy (nationalist, realist, liberal institutionalist, neoconservative), I discuss Obama’s policy style—the “nonideological doctrine”—that was purposively deliberative and cautious, in contrast to the ideological Bush regime-change crusade. Obama was careful to weigh the costs and benefits of policy options, keeping an eye on his predilection that foreign affairs must not interfere with the domestic agenda. This caution, which avoided major commitments to overseas conflicts, came under criticism from both the Left and Right of the political spectrum.","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134543769","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0011
Sekou M. Franklin, P. Dowe, Angela K. Lewis-Maddox
This chapter examines the Obama presidency, the politics of race and health care, and the role that African Americans played in shaping the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We argue that race—and specifically the elimination of racial and health disparities—was very much part of the ACA’s development. From the perspective of Black lawmakers health equity and patient protection advocates, who worked hand-in-glove with the Obama administration, the ACA was not race-neutral or indifferent to Blacks and the working poor. The law had special significance for African Americans despite Obama publicly discussing its impact in deracialized terms. Daniel Dawes, a leading advocate for health equity and author of the groundbreaking book 150 Years of Obamacare, called the ACA the “most comprehensive minority health law” and the “most inclusive [health] law” in the history of the United States. He identified sixty-two provisions that “directly address inequities in health care” that are embedded in the ACA.” This chapter thus argues that Obama’s ACA was substantively accountable to the coalition of Black lawmakers and activists—what we refer to as a policy ecosystem—who were purposeful about incorporating provisions in the bill designed to reduce racial disparities and income-based inequities in health care.
{"title":"Barack Obama and the Racial Politics of the Affordable Care Act","authors":"Sekou M. Franklin, P. Dowe, Angela K. Lewis-Maddox","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the Obama presidency, the politics of race and health care, and the role that African Americans played in shaping the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We argue that race—and specifically the elimination of racial and health disparities—was very much part of the ACA’s development. From the perspective of Black lawmakers health equity and patient protection advocates, who worked hand-in-glove with the Obama administration, the ACA was not race-neutral or indifferent to Blacks and the working poor. The law had special significance for African Americans despite Obama publicly discussing its impact in deracialized terms. Daniel Dawes, a leading advocate for health equity and author of the groundbreaking book 150 Years of Obamacare, called the ACA the “most comprehensive minority health law” and the “most inclusive [health] law” in the history of the United States. He identified sixty-two provisions that “directly address inequities in health care” that are embedded in the ACA.” This chapter thus argues that Obama’s ACA was substantively accountable to the coalition of Black lawmakers and activists—what we refer to as a policy ecosystem—who were purposeful about incorporating provisions in the bill designed to reduce racial disparities and income-based inequities in health care.","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114822430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0005
Brian D. Mckenzie
In line with the inclusionary dilemma theme of this volume, I examine the Obama administration’s public and private exchanges with Black religious communities. In many ways, Barack Obama’s political experiences highlighted elements of the inclusionary dilemma. On one hand, Black church social networks assisted Obama in establishing a political career in Illinois politics. But this association with Black institutions, particularly Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, would later become a political liability for Obama as he sought support from White voters in the 2008 general election. Thus, Obama’s challenge was to simultaneously appear as an advocate for African American political interests and effectively represent the nation as a whole. Since Black faith communities primarily work to advance Black interests, President Obama’s team may have limited their outreach and public backing of this constituency. At the same time, Obama called for policies with broad appeal among progressives. Using the inclusionary dilemma framework as an analytic lens, this chapter explores the administration’s actions and the political interests of Black Christians. I briefly reflect on the actions of the current US president, Donald Trump, as they relate to religion and politics in Black communities.
{"title":"“It’s Complicated”","authors":"Brian D. Mckenzie","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"In line with the inclusionary dilemma theme of this volume, I examine the Obama administration’s public and private exchanges with Black religious communities. In many ways, Barack Obama’s political experiences highlighted elements of the inclusionary dilemma. On one hand, Black church social networks assisted Obama in establishing a political career in Illinois politics. But this association with Black institutions, particularly Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ and Rev. Jeremiah Wright, would later become a political liability for Obama as he sought support from White voters in the 2008 general election. Thus, Obama’s challenge was to simultaneously appear as an advocate for African American political interests and effectively represent the nation as a whole. Since Black faith communities primarily work to advance Black interests, President Obama’s team may have limited their outreach and public backing of this constituency. At the same time, Obama called for policies with broad appeal among progressives. Using the inclusionary dilemma framework as an analytic lens, this chapter explores the administration’s actions and the political interests of Black Christians. I briefly reflect on the actions of the current US president, Donald Trump, as they relate to religion and politics in Black communities.","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126926522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0003
T. King-Meadows
In this chapter, I argue that the impact of the Obama presidency is best gauged not by examining shortfalls in Obama’s overt advocacy for race conscious policies but, rather, by examining what Obama did to assert that Black representatives should be more concerned about the enactment of legislation that advances Black progress than about credit claiming via overt advocacy. To illustrate, I examine select public speeches by Obama, White House documents, and press accounts to outline the Obama administration’s engagement with the Congressional Black Caucus and other elites over Black unemployment. Subsequent political clashes showcased Black dismay that a Black executive had not delivered tangible race-specific benefits, White fear that a Black president would practice racial favoritism, and an intergovernmental struggle between the executive and legislative branches over who should control employment policy. These clashes best illustrate how the “inclusionary dilemma” required Obama to utilize a complex engagement strategy with Black Americans to navigate Black dismay about job creation and to outline his socio-cultural-economic policy agenda. In the conclusion, I discuss how Obama used his final days in office to prepare the Obama coalition for the Trump presidency and to warn Black voters and Black elites about privileging style over substance.
{"title":"Invitations to the Dance","authors":"T. King-Meadows","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"In this chapter, I argue that the impact of the Obama presidency is best gauged not by examining shortfalls in Obama’s overt advocacy for race conscious policies but, rather, by examining what Obama did to assert that Black representatives should be more concerned about the enactment of legislation that advances Black progress than about credit claiming via overt advocacy. To illustrate, I examine select public speeches by Obama, White House documents, and press accounts to outline the Obama administration’s engagement with the Congressional Black Caucus and other elites over Black unemployment. Subsequent political clashes showcased Black dismay that a Black executive had not delivered tangible race-specific benefits, White fear that a Black president would practice racial favoritism, and an intergovernmental struggle between the executive and legislative branches over who should control employment policy. These clashes best illustrate how the “inclusionary dilemma” required Obama to utilize a complex engagement strategy with Black Americans to navigate Black dismay about job creation and to outline his socio-cultural-economic policy agenda. In the conclusion, I discuss how Obama used his final days in office to prepare the Obama coalition for the Trump presidency and to warn Black voters and Black elites about privileging style over substance.","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125738042","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0008
S. Brazelton, Dianne M. Pinderhughes
We examine the demographics of the federal judiciary and the impact President Obama had on diversifying the federal bench. We discuss the record-breaking number of women and minorities Obama appointed to federal courts at all levels. Considering the historic and current struggles of African Americans in attaining civil rights, we focus our discussion on the appointment of Black federal judges. We highlight the historic firsts for African American appointees and the continuing need for Black federal judges, particularly in the South. We also discuss the inclusionary dilemma in the context of President Obama’s selections for staffing the federal judiciary. We discuss Obama’s decision not to appoint a third African American justice to the Supreme Court, but we examine his record-breaking number of African American appointments to the lower federal courts. Despite these historic appointments, President Obama’s appointment power was not unfettered. In the end, we assess the impact of Obama’s appointees in view of voting rights litigation. Voting rights are particularly pertinent for racial minorities who have been historically denied these rights but have made gains in electing minorities to public office. In the conclusion, we discuss the racial implications of the Trump administration’s attempts to reverse Obama’s judicial legacy.
{"title":"Black Federal Judges and Civil Rights in the Age of Obama","authors":"S. Brazelton, Dianne M. Pinderhughes","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"We examine the demographics of the federal judiciary and the impact President Obama had on diversifying the federal bench. We discuss the record-breaking number of women and minorities Obama appointed to federal courts at all levels. Considering the historic and current struggles of African Americans in attaining civil rights, we focus our discussion on the appointment of Black federal judges. We highlight the historic firsts for African American appointees and the continuing need for Black federal judges, particularly in the South. We also discuss the inclusionary dilemma in the context of President Obama’s selections for staffing the federal judiciary. We discuss Obama’s decision not to appoint a third African American justice to the Supreme Court, but we examine his record-breaking number of African American appointments to the lower federal courts. Despite these historic appointments, President Obama’s appointment power was not unfettered. In the end, we assess the impact of Obama’s appointees in view of voting rights litigation. Voting rights are particularly pertinent for racial minorities who have been historically denied these rights but have made gains in electing minorities to public office. In the conclusion, we discuss the racial implications of the Trump administration’s attempts to reverse Obama’s judicial legacy.","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122613073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0007
Ravi K. Perry
In this chapter, I discuss the evolution of the Obama administration’s policies that effected the lives of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) communities. I discuss the dilemma—the inclusionary dilemma—that for all the ways President Obama and his administration may have moved the needle on American public opinion and the embrace of LGBTQ civil rights and marriage equality, there was less movement in terms of African American attitudes and, in turn, relatively less progress for Black LGBTQ communities. Having said this, however, I believe the targeted universalism of the administration still mattered in improving the lives of Black LGBTQ families. As I explain, targeted universalism is a policy approach whereby a policy that is crafted to appeal to and positively effect a very broad constituency—i.e., healthcare insurance and American uninsured families—has a positive ancillary effect upon the well-being of a specific constituency. I examine this main question principally by discussing how Obama and his administration slowly shifted not only the public discourse about same-sex marriage but legal interpretations and administrative guidelines relating to LGBTQ civil rights and healthcare. In turn, these actions prompted at least modest positive changes for LGBTQ and Black LGBTQ persons.
{"title":"Moving the Needle?","authors":"Ravi K. Perry","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"In this chapter, I discuss the evolution of the Obama administration’s policies that effected the lives of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) communities. I discuss the dilemma—the inclusionary dilemma—that for all the ways President Obama and his administration may have moved the needle on American public opinion and the embrace of LGBTQ civil rights and marriage equality, there was less movement in terms of African American attitudes and, in turn, relatively less progress for Black LGBTQ communities. Having said this, however, I believe the targeted universalism of the administration still mattered in improving the lives of Black LGBTQ families. As I explain, targeted universalism is a policy approach whereby a policy that is crafted to appeal to and positively effect a very broad constituency—i.e., healthcare insurance and American uninsured families—has a positive ancillary effect upon the well-being of a specific constituency. I examine this main question principally by discussing how Obama and his administration slowly shifted not only the public discourse about same-sex marriage but legal interpretations and administrative guidelines relating to LGBTQ civil rights and healthcare. In turn, these actions prompted at least modest positive changes for LGBTQ and Black LGBTQ persons.","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121113031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0012
Andra Gillespie
In this chapter, I empirically trace the state of Black homeownership over the course of the Obama presidency in comparison to other groups. I look at homeownership, foreclosure, and mortgage refinancing rates by race, in addition to residential segregation patterns. I also discuss policies that the Obama administration initiated to help struggling homeowners and reduce residential segregation. Studying homeownership and residential segregation policies in the Obama administration is important because it contributes to the larger debate about what President Obama did for Blacks while in office. We can see if President Obama was quietly advocating for Black interests out of the public eye with programs. This may have been his effort at avoiding what the editors of this volume call the “inclusionary dilemma” of Black politicians attempting to include Black interests within often racially hostile American policy regimes. Now that President Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, has had enough time to put his own stamp on housing policy, we have the advantage of being able to compare the different approaches to and motivations behind particular housing policies. This chapter ends with a brief discussion of how President Obama’s housing policies—the Obama housing legacy—have fared under the Trump administration.
{"title":"Race, Real Estate, and Responsiveness","authors":"Andra Gillespie","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"In this chapter, I empirically trace the state of Black homeownership over the course of the Obama presidency in comparison to other groups. I look at homeownership, foreclosure, and mortgage refinancing rates by race, in addition to residential segregation patterns. I also discuss policies that the Obama administration initiated to help struggling homeowners and reduce residential segregation. Studying homeownership and residential segregation policies in the Obama administration is important because it contributes to the larger debate about what President Obama did for Blacks while in office. We can see if President Obama was quietly advocating for Black interests out of the public eye with programs. This may have been his effort at avoiding what the editors of this volume call the “inclusionary dilemma” of Black politicians attempting to include Black interests within often racially hostile American policy regimes. Now that President Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, has had enough time to put his own stamp on housing policy, we have the advantage of being able to compare the different approaches to and motivations behind particular housing policies. This chapter ends with a brief discussion of how President Obama’s housing policies—the Obama housing legacy—have fared under the Trump administration.","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124558548","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0010
J. Jordan-Zachery
Using the Urban and Economic Mobility initiative undertaken by President Obama, I explore how and if race-gender is recognized in the framing of urban policy during the Obama administration. There is a distinctive race-gender dimension to urban policy. In urban areas, data suggests that poverty is both raced and gendered. The purpose of this chapter is to engage in an analysis of the relationship between race-gender and space in relation to urban policy-making. This analysis specifically looks at how Black women are treated in the urban policy-making process of the Obama administration. However, it also serves as an analysis into how Black women are understood in Black politics more specifically as it grapples with the larger question of how ideologies of gender, which often engage a rather masculinist approach, influence the quest for freedom and equality. An analysis of the Obama administration is somewhat of a proxy for an analysis of how gender, particularly Black womanhood, is treated in Black politics. As I argue, the ideologies of gender that influence urban policy, resulting in the invisibility of Black womanhood, are also prevalent in Black politics. What should Black politics look like beyond Obama?
{"title":"What about Black Women?","authors":"J. Jordan-Zachery","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"Using the Urban and Economic Mobility initiative undertaken by President Obama, I explore how and if race-gender is recognized in the framing of urban policy during the Obama administration. There is a distinctive race-gender dimension to urban policy. In urban areas, data suggests that poverty is both raced and gendered. The purpose of this chapter is to engage in an analysis of the relationship between race-gender and space in relation to urban policy-making. This analysis specifically looks at how Black women are treated in the urban policy-making process of the Obama administration. However, it also serves as an analysis into how Black women are understood in Black politics more specifically as it grapples with the larger question of how ideologies of gender, which often engage a rather masculinist approach, influence the quest for freedom and equality. An analysis of the Obama administration is somewhat of a proxy for an analysis of how gender, particularly Black womanhood, is treated in Black politics. As I argue, the ideologies of gender that influence urban policy, resulting in the invisibility of Black womanhood, are also prevalent in Black politics. What should Black politics look like beyond Obama?","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115520876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0013
L. Frasure, Stacey A. Greene
In this chapter, we examine African American attitudes toward immigration given the policy context of the Obama administration. What the editors of this volume call an “inverted Black linked fate” with Obama and his administration may or may not have indirectly affected Black attitudes on immigration. In President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, he made promises to the immigrant community, but especially the Latino immigrant community, to deliver comprehensive immigration reform. Reform advocates and activists were sorely disappointed when, for various reasons, these promises were not fulfilled and more punitive immigration enforcement led to activists dubbing Obama the “deporter in chief.” How might immigration affect Black politics? We examine what factors shape Black views toward often racialized and politicized policy issues such as immigration in order to provide insight on the prospects for coalition formation and sustainability beyond the Obama administration. We examine the extent to which factors such as economic attitudes, linked fate, neighborhood context, and sociodemographic factors influence Blacks’ views toward undocumented immigrants already living and working in the US. In this sense, we examine the standard conception of group linked fate but consider, to a limited degree, what it says about this volume’s notion of “inverted linked fate.”
{"title":"The Obama Era and Black Attitudes toward Undocumented Immigration Policies","authors":"L. Frasure, Stacey A. Greene","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0013","url":null,"abstract":"In this chapter, we examine African American attitudes toward immigration given the policy context of the Obama administration. What the editors of this volume call an “inverted Black linked fate” with Obama and his administration may or may not have indirectly affected Black attitudes on immigration. In President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign, he made promises to the immigrant community, but especially the Latino immigrant community, to deliver comprehensive immigration reform. Reform advocates and activists were sorely disappointed when, for various reasons, these promises were not fulfilled and more punitive immigration enforcement led to activists dubbing Obama the “deporter in chief.” How might immigration affect Black politics? We examine what factors shape Black views toward often racialized and politicized policy issues such as immigration in order to provide insight on the prospects for coalition formation and sustainability beyond the Obama administration. We examine the extent to which factors such as economic attitudes, linked fate, neighborhood context, and sociodemographic factors influence Blacks’ views toward undocumented immigrants already living and working in the US. In this sense, we examine the standard conception of group linked fate but consider, to a limited degree, what it says about this volume’s notion of “inverted linked fate.”","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122665541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-02-16DOI: 10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0009
Khalilah L. Brown-Dean
There were growing public demands to address ongoing tensions over biased policing, excessive sentencing, and the often lethal consequences of disproportionate minority contact. However, the Obama administration’s professed commitment to comprehensive criminal justice and mass incarceration reform was constrained by institutional norms, federalism, and a skepticism about individual responsibility that most frequently came from Republican detractors. Hyperincarceration in the United States has garnered substantial attention from scholars, activists, and analysts. Yet beyond crime rates, the racially disparate consequences of this autonomous system hold significant implications for the institutionalization of Black political power. African Americans are disproportionately represented in every realm of punitive control, from surveillance to arrest to conviction to incarceration to postrelease supervision. Crime control policies, then, shape individual access and communal representation. In this chapter, I interrogate President Obama’s record through the lens of what I term “concentrated punishment.” I begin by highlighting the behemoth growth of the criminal justice system that set the tone for the challenges President Obama attempted to address. From there, I analyze key policy reforms within these two domains to characterize President Obama’s legacy of criminal justice reform. Finally, I outline a reform path for future administrations.
{"title":"Monumental Promises, Incremental Gains","authors":"Khalilah L. Brown-Dean","doi":"10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0009","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9781479807277.003.0009","url":null,"abstract":"There were growing public demands to address ongoing tensions over biased policing, excessive sentencing, and the often lethal consequences of disproportionate minority contact. However, the Obama administration’s professed commitment to comprehensive criminal justice and mass incarceration reform was constrained by institutional norms, federalism, and a skepticism about individual responsibility that most frequently came from Republican detractors. Hyperincarceration in the United States has garnered substantial attention from scholars, activists, and analysts. Yet beyond crime rates, the racially disparate consequences of this autonomous system hold significant implications for the institutionalization of Black political power. African Americans are disproportionately represented in every realm of punitive control, from surveillance to arrest to conviction to incarceration to postrelease supervision. Crime control policies, then, shape individual access and communal representation. In this chapter, I interrogate President Obama’s record through the lens of what I term “concentrated punishment.” I begin by highlighting the behemoth growth of the criminal justice system that set the tone for the challenges President Obama attempted to address. From there, I analyze key policy reforms within these two domains to characterize President Obama’s legacy of criminal justice reform. Finally, I outline a reform path for future administrations.","PeriodicalId":146272,"journal":{"name":"After Obama","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123013316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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