海角大神

One of President Obama鈥檚 favorite quotes is from Martin Luther King Jr.: 鈥淭he arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.鈥�

As America celebrates its independence this month, the first African-American president stands as a testament to his faith in that statement and also to his own pragmatic political skills. In a nation where race has long been a divisive issue, Mr. Obama tapped a yearning for change with racially neutral language that transcended distrust and helped unite the country to elect its first black president.

At the same time, a growing number of African-American scholars are questioning the cost of that victory.

These scholars recognize that Obama still enjoys extraordinarily high approval ratings among African-Americans. An April New York Times poll found the percentage of African-Americans with an unfavorable opinion of him was too small to measure. Scholars also acknowledge the symbolic importance of a black American family living in the White House; every image of the calm, intelligent president and his apparently happy family counters myriad negative stereotypes.

But there is some concern that in Obama鈥檚 efforts to transcend race and unite the country, the African-American community could inadvertently lose political clout in determining crucial social-policy issues 鈥� from education to healthcare 鈥� vital to its well-being.

鈥淲hat was the price of Obama鈥檚 election? In part, it was that we can no longer talk about race explicitly around national policy issues, or at least [Obama] can鈥檛, without being accused of playing identity politics,鈥� says Eddie Glaude, professor at the Center for African American Studies at Princeton University. 鈥淪o the question is then: How do African-American communities engage issues in light of their particular experiences without being accused of pushing a racial agenda?鈥�

An awkward dance

To date, it has been an awkward dance. Some African-Americans have faced a backlash for criticizing Obama. In April 2008, Tavis Smiley, a leading black commentator, abruptly left a popular morning show on Black Entertainment Television after he criticized candidate Obama. At the time, host Tom Joyner told listeners that Mr. Smiley couldn鈥檛 take 鈥渢he hate鈥� coming from listeners. Smiley, who did not return requests for a comment, later cited fatigue as a reason.

Prominent African-American scholar Cornel West was asked recently if he鈥檇 take a post in the Obama White House. His reply: 鈥淵ou find me in a crack house before you find me in the White House.鈥�

On The Huffington Post, comedian Elon James White called Dr. West鈥檚 comment 鈥渟heer lunacy.鈥� He added, 鈥淒r. West is part of a group of Black intelligentsia that see it as their job to step up and police President Obama on his dealings on Blackness.鈥� West was in Europe and unavailable for comment.

Michael Eric Dyson, another leading black intellectual, has also come under fire for suggesting on radio that Obama was 鈥減laying鈥� black people. Dr. Dyson did not respond to requests for a comment.

At the same time, other leading African-Americans have been chastised for being overly uncritical. Professor Glaude says the community is experiencing a confusion typical of any political movement in the midst of a historic transformation.

鈥淭he very nature and the form and content of African-American politics has changed because of Obama鈥檚 election,鈥� says Glaude. 鈥淚t demands a kind of revisit to the historical archive to ask: What is our relationship to this nation now?鈥�

Fourth of July in 1852

Answering that question involves understanding the historical context linked to the nation鈥檚 independence. In 1852, abolitionist Frederick Douglass spoke at a Fourth of July commemoration in Rochester, N.Y. He asked his mostly white audience: 鈥淲hat, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim.鈥�

Even after slavery was abolished and the Constitution was amended to grant blacks all the rights of citizenship, the legacy of slavery and segregation continued to rob blacks of full participation in society. That cemented a conflict about being American and black 鈥� between the desire to belong and the impulse to reform the status quo 鈥� that has been at the core of African-American politics ever since.

At the turn of the 20th century, W.E.B. DuBois summed up the dilemma thus: 鈥淭wo souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.鈥�

Today, Obama is regularly asked what he鈥檒l do about the black community鈥檚 disproportionately high unemployment or inequities in education and healthcare. His response steers clear of racial references and focuses on the need to fix the economy. 鈥淸If] I don鈥檛 do that, then I鈥檓 not going to be able to help anybody,鈥� he said at a June press conference.

Such answers frustrate some African-Americans, who would like a more direct response. Achieving racial equity, they say, demands significant change 鈥� more than Obama has yet enacted and more than is produced by the symbolism of a black man at the White House.

鈥淲e ought not to be blinded by the fact that he looks like some of us,鈥� says Bruce Dixon, managing editor of the Black Agenda Report. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 invest so much in the symbolism that we don鈥檛 really pay attention to what 鈥榖rother man鈥� actually says and does.鈥�

Obama has also been criticized for not putting out a formal statement on the death of pop star Michael Jackson, instead allowing spokesman Robert Gibbs to comment on it.

Signs of a different approach

But others say that Obama has already made racial issues, like civil rights enforcement, a top priority. He has increased by 18 percent the budget for the Justice Department鈥檚 Civil Rights Division and reversed the conservative stamp on the division, which under President Bush brought only two cases of voter discrimination on behalf of African-Americans.

The Obama administration has also made its presence felt at the US Supreme Court. It supported the City of New Haven against white firefighters, whose reverse-discrimination case was recently decided by the high court in the firefighters鈥� favor. It also opposed the challenge to the Voting Rights Act by a Texas entity. In that case, the court voted to keep the 1965 act intact.

Next Thursday, Obama is also scheduled to speak in New York at the annual convention for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Obama鈥檚 supporters note that 鈥渢he arc of the moral universe is long鈥� and call for patience. The challenge, they say, is to distinguish symbolism from substance, and hold him accountable as any president.

鈥淥bama is not the black president or the president of the Black United States, he鈥檚 president of the United States. And it鈥檚 not fair for us to make demands on him as if he鈥檚 just ours,鈥� says Monroe Anderson, a longtime Chicago journalist and commentator.