The Situation of African – Americans during

Barack Obama’s presidency – Is this the end of

racism?

Batta Mirella

Szakdolgozat

Anglisztika BA

Konzulens:

Kopaszné Láng Viktória

Tudományos segédmunkatárs

Bölcsészettudományi Kar

Modern Filológiai Intézet

Angol Nyelv – és Irodalomtudományi Tanszék

Miskolc

2014

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................3

2. The Way to the White House – Obama’s Political Career ...............................................5

3. The first African – American president in the United States and his acts in favor of his

major voting basis: the African Americans ....................................................................... 13

3.1. Obama’s first term ................................................................................................. 13

3.1.1. The community in crisis .................................................................................. 13

3.1.2. The ObamaCare .............................................................................................. 16

3.1.3. No African – American Child Left Behind ...................................................... 19

3.1.4. Black President = Black America? ................................................................. 20

3.2. Obama’s second term............................................................................................. 21

3.2.1. The black population still suffer from the ‘depression’ .................................... 21

3.2.2. The ObamaCare in progress ............................................................................ 23

3.2.3. Black people have no better chances? .............................................................. 26

4. Analyzing the interviews - Summary ............................................................................ 27

5. Is this the America what Martin Luther King dreamt about? – Conclusion ................... 29

6. Works Cited ................................................................................................................. 31

7. Összefoglaló ................................................................................................................ 35

8. Appendix ..................................................................................................................... 37

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1. Introduction

My thesis is about how the situation of African Americans changes in the USA

during Barack Obama’s presidency. I think this topic can be quite important, because he is

the first African American president in the United States. Moreover, he is in his second

term now; so that means he was re-elected, which can be an interesting fact for my paper,

too.

I have chosen this topic because I am interested in Afro Americans’ life and lifestyle.

In spite of the fact that I live in Hungary, I am curious about the Afro – American people’s

fate in America.

I will try to compare the two sections of his presidency in order to find the most

suitable answer for my questions.

I am going to find the answers for the following questions in my thesis:

What do we know about his election? Were the Afro – Americans in majority who voted

for him?Does Obama’s presidency bring any changes in their lives? If yes, if no, what kind

of changes? I am looking for the answers in a financial, educational and medical point of

view. My main question is: How did the social attitude change towards them?

At the end of my paper I would like to put two and two together and answer in a crystal

clear way, but in my opinion Barack Obama did not give the Negroes a leg up.

Moreover, I have collected some sources from the Internet and I have found almost

the same result in most of the fields.

According to the political life of the Afro – Americans, they feel that they do not have

more power than before Obama.

The economic situation got better before Obama became the president. Since his

presidency, this progress did not just stop, but also the situation got worse. White people

live in well – being, but black people do not. There was a hope for them – the ObamaCare

-, but it did not promise too much good for many African - Americans.

Unfortunately, the racial problem did not get better, too. Moreover, it has become worse

than before; again. However, black people were more optimistic in the first period of

Obama’s presidency and they saw changes, but nowadays everything is different.

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The only positive change appears in the field of education; most Afro – American children

became more motivated due to Obama’s success, so they choose the school instead of

workplace.

In order to make sure of nowadays African – American situation in the United States, I will

try to make an online interview with an African – American person who lives in the USA.

To poise, I hope I will be able to make an interview with a white American, too.

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2. The Way to the White House – Obama’s Political Career

“If you're walking down the right path

and you're willing to keep walking, eventually

you'll make progress.”

Barack Hussein Obama II

Everybody around the world knows that Obama came from nowhere; his father was a

Kenyan goat – herder and his mother was an American anthropologist. But what were the

different factors or circumstances which contributed to Obama's great success in politics?

Picture 1: Barack Obama and his father

Source: RainbowSkill.com

Although his father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. left the young Barack with his

mother, Ann; the white mother tried to bring up the little Obama as an African – American.

It seems impossible, but it is true, because his mother gave him books about Martin Luther

King and often listened Mahalia Jackson’s gospels with him (Bokor, Barack Obama

Superstar 26).

Moreover, when he started his studies, he had to face with several problems because of

racism not just in everyday life, but at school, too. Thanks to these actions, when Barry

grew up to Barack, his black pride and identity became very strong, although he had

neither financial nor educational problems. From this point of view his story is not a

typical ‘Black American – story’ (Mendell 17). He also refers to his ‘blackness’ in his

book: “that I can embrace my black brothers and sisters, whether in this country or in

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Africa, and affirm a common ancestry without pretending to speak to, or for, all our

various struggles—is part of what this book is all about” (Obama XVI).

Thanks to his foster father, the Indonesian Lolo Soetoro, he could differentiate

strength from weakness. He had to face cruelties and difficulties of life. For example, he

had to eat dog flesh and, snake meat and roasted cricket while he lived in Indonesia

(Mendell 33). He saw many people who were living in the streets without homes. His

stepfather always emphasized him the strength and rationalism what he learnt as a soldier.

No matter whether he liked Lolo or not, he has always been faithful to his father. The

following quotation from him also backs my statement: “Every man is trying to live up to

his father’s expectations or make up for his mistakes. In my case, both things might be

true.” (Mendell 40).

As I mentioned above, Martin Luther King and other famous African – Americans

influenced Barack. But there was an other man, who made a big impression on him. This

man was called Harold Washington, the one – time mayor of Chicago. The racial problems

and Mr. Washington were the reason why he decided to acquire a law degree (Mendell 82).

He learnt at Harvard Law School, which is a reputable institution even today. After his first

year he turned into a trainee at a lawyer agency where he met a Black American, Michelle

Robinson. He was popular in school, too. Once, when there was a debate around the

denomination of Black Americans, Mr. Obama stood up and said: “You know, whether

we’re called black or African Americans doesn’t make a whole heck of a lot of difference

to the lives of people who are working hard, you know, living day to day, in Chicago, in

New York. That’s not what’s going to make a difference in their lives. It’s how we use our

education in these next three years to make their lives better. You know, that’s what’s

going to have an impact on making the U.S. a more just place to live, and that’s what’s

going to have an impact on their lives” (Mendell 87). There is another perfect example of

his black identity. Realizing these facts it is not surprising that the majority chose him to

the first African American president of the Hardvard Law Review,which was the school’s

publication. Moreover, it was the most influential publication in the country (Mendell 87).

Last but not least this position later becomes important to his career.

We can easily believe that the 44th president of the United States wanted to choose

black people around him. But this is not true. He is black, but not racist, so he selected the

members of his team by their abilities. Unfortunately there were students who could not

understand him and criticized him intensely.

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Picture 2: Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Robinson

Source: Gukunda.com

During their tryst with Michelle, once he mentioned it to her brother, Craig that he

would like to be the president of America. It sounded unbelievable at that time, but this is

the living history now.

After his marriage with Michelle, he started his political career at the ‘black’ section

of Chicago, the South Side. He took on a job the main point of which was the mobilization

of low – income black voters in the US presidential campaign 1992 (Bokor, Barack Obama

Superstar 61). No matter how hard he tried to gain the black population about their strength

together, they did not really believe in him, because he is not ‘real black’ and he is

cultured. At that time he taught law at the University of Chicago Law School. The law and

an African American man seemed a kind of ‘mismatch’ in the other’s eyes. During that

time he wrote his first book, Dreams from my Father. He wrote truthfully about his

adolescence, drugs, alcohol and also his badinage between the two races. While reading

this book we can easily realize his political ambitions (Bokor, Barack Obama Superstar

62). After the campaign he got a new job in a lawyer agency, but this was not interesting

enough for him. During the nine year when Obama worked as a lawyer, he did not lose a

suit. He was instrumental in the law which helped the poor people to vote (Mendell 105).

There was a turning point when he really started to think about a political carrier; this was

the Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 (Mendell 106).

He succeeded in his first attempt to become a state senator. The place which he

wanted to fill in was claimed by, the previous owner – Alice Palmer. Thanks to his judicial

knowledge, he and his team found out many irregularities, so Miss Palmer had to give up

this plan (Mendell 108).

It took years to Barack to draw up with his own solutions, ideas. He was younger at

that time than other senators and he was a member of the party which was in minority

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(Mendell 121). As we can see it later, Mr. Obama tries to make a compromise with both

parties but he did not see the ordinary people’s problems. At that time his political carrier

was the first of him and his sophisticated speech style also transmitted this to the public.

However, his speeches were popular in the community of university students. Apart from

this characteristic, he supported bills which were based on social justice (Mendell 127).

These achievements motivated him to apply for a seat in the House of Representatives. It

was a mistake and he sustained a defeat (Mendell 128).

At that time he was not as well – known as his opponent, Bobby Rush (Mendell

128). In this period the first problems around his personality started to evolve: most of the

black people said that he is not really ‘black’ and he did not grow up in the USA (Mendell

129 – 130). So he cannot face their problems, but Bobby can. The biggest problem which

caused his defeat happened in winter in 1999. The Obama family spent their holiday in

Honolulu while the Congress of Illinois voted about an important bill, the limitation of

‘bearing arms’. As Obama was not at there, he could not vote. Although he supported this

bill, it failed partly because of his omission (Mendell 136). However after his defeat he

cast doubts on his abilities as a politician, but fortunately, he did not give up at this point.

Two years later, in 2002 he set himself a new aim: a place in the U.S. Senate in 2004.

The very beginning was not simple either: because of his adversary and predecessor in the

party, Carol Moseley Brown. First she told that she would not run for this membership but

later she changed her mind. Obama became idle, because he did not want to enter the lists

against her (Mendell 159). And on top of all, there were few people who supported him

and another problem of his character outcropped: his name. As we know his middle name

is Hussein which is the same as the one – time Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. Moreover,

his surname, Obama is quite similar to Osama bin Laden’s, the notorious terrorist’s first

name. Who wanted to support a black man with these ambiguous names?

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Picture 3: Mr. Obama and David Axelrod

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Fortunately, there was a man who spotted the possibilities in him. This person’s

name is David Axelrod. Ax made a superstar of Obama. He taught Obama how to act like

an everyday person, not just a politician. He introduced Obama to many important people

and ‘another famous black guy’, Jesse Jackson also supported him both as a proponent and

as a friend. However, he also tried to reinforce his own position in the Senate of Illinois.

He initiated and supported more and more bills in the fields of improving senior citizens’

situation, children aid and fight against poverty (Bokor, Barack Obama Superstar 78).

In this campaign the Black American voters played the main role, because in the

State of Illinois every 5th person is black. However hard he tried to emphasize his black

identity in these areas with appropriate phrases and accents, his strong points did not reside

in them (Mendell 186). Out and away with his work in the Senate of Illinois. One of his

well – known actions was the bill about videotape recording of interrogations in state

prisons. He visited the smaller settlements diligently in order that more people could get to

know him and his program. More and more women wanted to touch him or take a picture

with him. They treated him as a real superstar, which really puzzled him at the very

beginning.

Meanwhile, an other famous person supported Obama: Paul Simon. He was a

member of the Democratic Party and served both in the United States Senate and the

United States House of Representatives. Moreover, he ran for his party’s presidential

nomination in 1988. As we can see he was a potential person who supported Obama from

the beginning. Unfortunately his death averted him to stand by Obama personally. Luckily

his daughter, Sheila Simon undertook the advertisement in which she also sponsored and

recommended Barack (Mendell 228).

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The famous slogan, “Yes, we can” became popular at that time. Although Obama did

not like it at first, it met with success. The pronoun “we” emphasized that all the people are

able to change the world, make it better. The word “yes” referred to Obama; an African

American can be a senator (Mendell 229).

His speech in Boston read as a wonder. He spoke about ‘the courage to hope’, which

later turn into his slogan. He also quoted from Martin Luther King which emphasized

again his strong black identity. Moreover, he spoke about America; “There’s not a black

America and white America and Latino America and Asian America—there’s the United

States of America. . . . We are one people. . . “(Mendell 3). It was touching from an

African – American.

After he won this campaign by 53% of all the votes, more and more people said that

he should go for presidency in 2008. The modern media – the Internet, television

advertisements – and also the newspapers revealed headlines like “Dreaming of Obama”,

“Great Expectations” and “Why Barack Obama Could Be the Next President” (Mendell

10). Everybody in America dealt with this idea, however, Obama had not said a word

about it…yet.

His second most significant speech was in 2005 about the racial issue due to the

Hurricane Kathrina. His advisors told him not to tell anything about it, but it was

impossible for a Black American. He solved it wisely: he supported neither the black nor

the white; he focused on the main problem (Mendell 316 – 317). He wanted to give

assistance to the affected people as fast as it is possible. He also egged other Americans to

help on the aggrieved people.

When he started his campaign, racism as a problem motivated him…again (Bokor,

Obama: The Road from Honolulu to the White House and Onwards 18) He was the first,

who obtained one of the major parties support as an African American.

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Picture 4: Barack Obama and Ted Kennedy - confer before State of the Union speech by President

George Bush, Washington DC, January 28, 2008

Source: TVGuide.com

On Super Tuesday, 2008, Edward Kennedy after due deliberation, supported Obama

as the candidate of the Democratic Party in public (Bokor, Obama: The Road from

Honolulu to the White House and Onwards 124).

In his first television debate with his adversary, John McCain, Barack gained ascendancy

over John. His sophisticated, moderate style met with success partly because Mr. McCain

tried to degrade the Black American candidate abortively.

During the whole campaign, the Obama team was afraid of the Bradley effect. It

referred back to Thomas Bradley, who was an African American senator. He wanted to be

a state governor and during the campaign period according to all indications he could have

won it. However, something happened at the end, he lost. Partly because of his skin color

(Bokor, Obama: The Road from Honolulu to the White House and Onwards 164).

Therefore their fear was not baseless.

Fortunately, history did not repeat itself. At the early voting period, Obama got 59

percent of the votes (Bokor, Obama: The Road from Honolulu to the White House and

Onwards 185). His superiority did not decrease n the whole electional period. Finally he

won with 52.9%. It was amazing!

On 20th January, 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the

United States and the first African American president of America. The reign of white

people came to an end. Martin Luther King’s dream about a racially equal America came

true or the population of America in this economic crisis simply did not see the loophole of

this situation. Which is true? It will take years to know the answer to this question.

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The first Black American president travelled on the same way as Lincoln in his time

(Bokor, Obama: The Road from Honolulu to the White House and Onwards 205). In

Washington the majority of the celebrator cloud was African American. They felt and

thought that Obama’s victory was their own triumph, too. But can he solve the economic

crisis, war fares and the racial issue? Well, we can see it in the following chapters.

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3. The first African – American president in the United States and his acts in favor of

his major voting basis: the African Americans

As we know and as the title suggests, many Black Americans supported Obama

during the presidential campaign in 2008 eminently because of his skin. I was curious

about their lives since then; both in Obama’s first and second term (present). Has he done

any good for them? Well, I try to find the answer in this chapter.

3.1. Obama’s first term

3.1.1. The community in crisis

Obama got the United States in the middle of a depression, so he had to find

solutions both for companies and people as well. Let’s see these acts and their effects, if

they had any in the first term.

The ‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’ (ARRA) was signed in February,

2009. As we can read on its official governmental site, it created and saved jobs in the first

place, which is the most important from my perspective. I found a report on the site of the

United States Department of Labor which was published in February, 2012. It is s said that

the unemployment rate was lower at the end of 2011 than in 2009, but much higher as

before the recession. However, the black people who work or want to work ran to more

than the half of the whole American population, earned less than white men and women in

the same jobs. In both cases of races men earn more in the same field than women. If they

become unemployed, it will be hard to find a new job and they will stay in this condition

for longer time, which will also decrease their possibilities. Your only chance as a black

person is that you learn, because more Afro - Americans had a college degree than the

white; so their situation was better on the labor market. I found also a chart there, which

showed that fewer teenagers looked for jobs, because more and more African – Americans

became students.

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Table 1: Unemployment and employment characteristics by race and Hispanic ethnicity, 2011 annual

averages

Characteristics of the employed Blacks Whites Hispanics

% Employed (employment -population ratio among those 16 and older) 51.7 59.4 58.9

% Usually working part time 18.0 19.9 18.9

% Women (age 16 and older) 53.8 46.0 40.6

% College graduates (age 25 and older) 26.5 36.8 16.7

% Working in the private sector (wage and salary workers) 76.9 78.5 83.7

% Working in the public sector 19.3 14.2 10.4

% Self-employed (unincorporated)2 3.8 7.2 5.8

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Current Population Survey

It is a good point and it showed that Obama may have motivated them. On the other

hand it represents that the most women who have part – time jobs are African –

Americans. We can also see clearly, that most of the people who are working in the public

sector have dark skin. Unfortunately, this fact has not solved the unemployment issue yet.

Maybe in his next term we can see the real economic recovery amongst Black Americans.

The next act which had effects on the black was the ‘Credit Card Accountability

Responsibility and Disclosure Act’ of 2009 or ‘Credit CARD Act’. This bill was passed on

May 22, 2009. Analyzing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s site, this act created

fair and transparent background for the credit transmissions. It was a “positive” act, but not

just for the black population. As Jazelle Hunt mentioned in her article, the credit

delinquency significantly reduced and late fees also became lower than half. However, the

executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, Nikita Bailey also said that

the Black’s less opportunities based on the unequal payments.

The next enactment as a solution for the crisis was the ‘Hiring Incentives to Restore

Employment’ (HIRE) Act. It was enacted on March 18, 2010. Jasmine A. Williams wrote a

comment about it. However, it was published in 2013, the writer wrote about the whole

period. She mentioned the unequal situation of black and white people in the working area.

She also recited several solutions with their possible results such as More Solutions

Tailored to African Americans and Eliminating Incentives to Discriminate. As their title

suggest, these approaches fight against both unemployment and racial segregation. The act

stated that if the employer hired a worker who was previously unemployed before the end

of the year he was entitled for a 6.2% payroll tax incentive. Due to this bill, employers

more often hired unemployed people than before. It was good both for employers and

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workers, but not just for the Afro – Americans so from my point of view it did not solve

especially their problems.

The following act has only one section which refers to the Afro – Americans

directly. This is the ‘Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act’

(Dodd – Frank) which was signed by the president on 21 July, 2010. According to Internet

sources, the long title of the act suggests that this bill promotes the “accountability and

transparency in the financial system” and protects both taxpayers and consumers from

misusing. The section which I mentioned above is on the Federal Deposit Insurance

Corporation’s site. Its content is the following:

“(f) Diversity in Agency Workforce.—Each agency shall take affirmative steps to seek

diversity in the workforce of the agency at all levels of the agency in a manner consistent

with applicable law. Such steps shall include—

(1) recruiting at historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions,

women's colleges, and colleges that typically serve majority minority populations;”.

As we can see, this section concentrates to employ people from majority minorities such as

the black from their colleges and universities. However this act is not about the African –

Americans again, but specialized partly on them so we can put it down as a kind of

success.

The ‘Small Business Jobs Act’ (SBJA) was signed on September 27, 2010. This bill

is “a measure helping small businesses create and preserve hundreds of thousands of jobs

through tax incentives and expanded private-sector lending.” However, as we can also read

the article on Maria Cantwell, United States Senator for Washington’s official website,

they cannot reach the point where they have a chance to come at capitals.

I found nearly the same attitude while I was reading the FinancesOnline.com’s article,

‘Ten Tight and Tricky Financial Challenges That Will Test African-American Resilience

in 2013’. The last point is about this act, as well. This also mentions the lack of capital as

the main reason for their flop. Also their lack of knowledge about business and

complicated terms makes their situation harder.

I watched the CNN coverage when the ‘Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance

Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act’ was passed on December, 2010. Many people

thought that this bill was a victory for the African – Americans. I also wanted to examine

this act, whether this prediction was true or false.

Hazel Trice Edney’s article was written at the time when the act “was born”. She wrote

down in the very beginning that this act would be good both for the poor and the rich, too.

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Moreover, the tax breaks will return to wealthy Americans. After this short introduction I

had the question: this act cui bono? The Earn Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit

will help for half of the African – American children and more than 2 million Black

families. The extension of Unemployment Insurance will save 1.1 million African

Americans in the following 13 months. There are also tax cuts for working families, not

just for the unemployed ones. These sections sounded good and I am curious about their

results.

3.1.2. The ObamaCare

Around America everybody speaks about the ObamaCare. What does this word

exactly mean? I found the answer on the ObamaCareFacts.com, which says: “ObamaCare

is the unofficial name for The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act which was

signed into law on March 23, 2010. ObamaCare's health care reform does a number of

important things including offering Americans a number of new benefits, rights, and

protections in regards to their healthcare and setting up a Health Insurance Marketplace

where Americans can purchase federally regulated and subsidized health insurance.”.

Mainly, I will examine these two acts in this chapter.

However, he modified or created other laws. On 4th February, 2009 he signed the

‘Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act’. As I knew from the

MediCaid.gov, this act originally was created in 1997 and it has several modifications.

Obama added $32.8 billion to the health program in order to help both 4 million more

children and immigrants. On the Children’s Defense Fund website there is an article about

it. It mentions that this law is quite good, but in 2012 there were 7.2 million uninsured

children, who were almost American citizens. Their disadvantage status was reflected both

on their health conditions and their performances in school. In the second term, we will see

the longer results of this bill.

The ‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’ was not good just for the economy.

According to the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health’s article, this

act guaranteed enough money to the research institutions. It is important from my point of

view, because the minority population suffered from cancer at a very high rate. For

example, twice as many African – American men suffering from prostate cancer died as

the European – Americans. Moreover, the situation is nearly the same in the case of the

lung cancer. Researchers believe that is because of genetic variants and if they have a

chance to find the root of the problem, doctors will be able to cure people more effectively.

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Returning to the lung cancer, an other act was born which controlled the quantity of

cigarettes: ‘Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act’. With this law the Food

and Drug Administration has the power to control the tobacco industry. It means that they

banned the flavored cigarettes and they have the right to put warnings on the packaging, as

in Hungary. They hope that with this act they will reduce the number of people who want

to try the cigarette. This is significant again, because, as we can see on the National Cancer

Institute Behavioral Research’s chart, most of the cigarette smokers are African –

Americans. Other facts that I know from Rose SW, Myers AE, D’Angelo H and Ribisl

KM’s research that are many retailers sold cigarettes cheaper in the poorer areas and in

many cases they sold tobacco to children.

Table 2: Menthol Cigarette Use Among Current Smokers Ages 18+ Years by Sociodemographic

Characteristics, Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, 2006/07[a]

Variable

Menthol Cigarette Use Among Current

Smokers

% (95% CI)

Population Size Sample Size

Race/ethnicity[b]

White

Black

Hispanic

American Indian/Alaska

Native Asian/Pacific Islander

Multiple Race

20.6 (19.9-21.3)

69.5 (67.4-71.6)

26.4 (24.2-28.7)

21.1 (16.2-27.0)

23.3 (19.3-27.8)

28.2 (23.9-32.9)

6,215,798

2,999,222

958,388

67,402

224,387

197,582

4,922

1,766

542

84

203

201

[a]Menthol cigarette use was assessed by asking respondents to indicate their usual type of cigarette. Only self-respondents were

asked to identify their usual type of cigarette. Responses included menthol, non-menthol, and no usual type. Those with missing

data to this item were excluded. Data are weighted for the sample design and for the Tobacco Use Supplement self-response.

[b] In the 2006-07 Current Population Survey, multiple races were allowed. Here "White" equals non-Hispanic, only White race

reported; "Black" equals non-Hispanic, only Black race reported; "American Indian/Alaska Native" equals non-Hispanic, only

American Indian/Alaska Native race reported; "Asian/Pacific Islander" equals non-Hispanic, only Asian/Native Hawaiian & Other

Pacific Islander race reported; "Multiple Races" equals non-Hispanic, 2 or more races reported.

Source: National Cancer Institute

Unfortunately, the menthol remained as a kind of flavor. But in 2011, a report showed that

if the menthol disappeared from the industry, it would be good for the public health of the

United States because this flavor is preferred by in the African – American population and

it makes it harder to get out of this habit. Because of both the public and ethnic health, the

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fight against menthol continued in the second term, so we will see the results then, if there

are some.

As I mentioned before, the main act which I would like to examine in this section is

‘The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’ (PPACA or ACA) and the ‘Health Care

and Education Reconciliation Act’. These acts - as their names suggest – are affordable

health insurances, reducing both the costs of the healthcare and the number of uninsured

people. It sounds good, but why is it important from my perspective? Well, according to

CivilRight.org’s article, minority people are more likely to be uninsured than the Whites.

Moreover, it says: “One in five African Americans was uninsured in 2009, compared to

one in ten non-Hispanic whites”. So that is why it is important to me. This high rate is

because of the cost of the health insurance and the large scale of unemployment, again.

Most of the Black Americans had a health insurance if they were employees and their

employer paid it. If they did not have enough money for it, they would not prevent diseases

such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, obesity, diabetes, and doctors would not cure them in the

appropriate way. Those who have this insurance, suffered less from illnesses, and had

better living circumstances, so they had better chance at their work place, school, and so

on. Knowing these facts and bias, these numbers are not surprising.

Unfortunately, this act also has a bad side: the Court stated that none of the states can be

forced to join this expansion. The first year of enrollment of ACA ended on 31st March,

2014, so this act may have results also in the second period.

However, there was a debate about the Health Care racial background and the

Brittany Hutson’s writing dealt with it. In this article we can read that less than a half of

the white population supported it, but the vast majority of minorities supported this act.

That is again because of the social and economical inequality and the factors which I

mentioned above. Many people said at that time that the grantees of this law will be the

minorities. Why? Because they do have a chance to start with the same odds at the doctors

at last? Most of them did not have the same living conditions as the white Americans, but I

do not think they claimed their fortunes. If the government does nothing in the case of

minorities, two things will happen: first, Obama will lose his major voting basis, the

African – Americans. Second, the inequality will remain and other countries around the

world can say that America is still a racist superpower. Alas the minorities do not have

enough chances to get along, partly because of the negative discrimination everywhere in

the United States. These medical acts can be the first steps to make their lives easier.

19

3.1.3. No African – American Child Left Behind

We are up in this act from the Bush – era. The official, ‘No Child Left Behind’

(NCLB) was introduced in 2001 and it has been modified several times. “The fundamental

principle of this bill is that every child can learn, we expect every child to learn, and you

must show us whether or not every child is learning,” and also “every school has a job to

do, and that’s to teach the basics and teach them well. If we want to make sure no child is

left behind, every child must learn to read. And every child must learn to add and

subtract.” - as President Bush said when he signed the bill. After that they can create a

high quality education. Obama also changed this act in 2010. He urged to finance the

researches among students and their abilities and the solutions to the problems and he tried

to emphasize not just the basic skills’ knowledge. He wanted to motivate the children to

continue learning after primary school. These requirements may reduce the gap between

the white and color population. Referring to the Fawn Johnson’s experiences, African –

American students improved a lot in the period of 1991 – 2011. Their Math scores were up

to 2 - 3 grade levels and their reading was up to one level. It is quite good, but we do not

know whether it is an effect of the act or not. On the other hand, there are still big

differences between minority and white students. There is one thing due to this law:

researches revealed the education inequalities between colored and white students, so

teachers also had to realize it.

The ‘Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act’ of 2010 partly

serves the minorities. Alluding to Collegeinfo.com’s and Congress.gov’s information, in

this act “extends funding for grants to historically Black colleges and universities and other

minority-serving institutions through FY2019. Terminates the Secretary's authority to

award such grants after FY2019”.

There is an act which is linked to both the medical and educational side of Obama’s

presidency. This is the ‘Healthy, Hunger – Free Kids Act’ of 2010. It was important from

the Black Americans’ point of view, because relating to Von Diaz’s report, most of the

African – American children suffered from obesity or diabetes. This is because of the

unhealthy, fatty foods. Moreover, in the poor areas children can eat almost nothing. Their

bodies cannot develop in an appropriate way. Unfortunately, dining at school was not

unhealthy at all, so Obama wanted to change it. As we can read on the National

Conference of State Legislatures’ “included in this legislation are the National School

Lunch and Breakfast programs, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,

Infants and Children (WIC), the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), the

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Summer Food Service Program, the Afterschool Meal Program and the Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program Education (SNAP-Ed)”. So this act financially supported the

meals at school – which means that children who are needy can get meals at school for half

price or free - , gives money to schools to buy fresh produces from local farms and gardens

and finally, it gives more opportunities to access to the drinking waters for schools. In

summers, when there is holiday, settlements try to solve this problem with summer meals.

Many psychologists said that children who had colored skin became fatty because they felt

the social inequality and racism around them. I can easy believe it, because most of the

people around me start to eat a lot when something wrong happened to them. Moreover, I

support this act, but I do not think this can solve the problem. It is okay that they can eat

healthy food at school but when they go home everything starts again. They have to reform

the whole system at its roots: maybe the government should give out vouchers which the

families can only use for buying healthy foods or something like these. I am looking

forward to seeing the results in the future.

3.1.4. Black President = Black America?

The main point of my thesis is the changing of racism. I tried to collect acts and their

possible effects on minorities, especially African – Americans. In my opinion the first act

could be the ‘Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act’ of 2009. However, it is based on wage

inequality; this is because of the different races earned less than White Americans.

Moreover, if a colored woman worked, she earned by far less than a white man. As it

stated on the National Women’s Law Center’s website, Mr. Obama wanted to reduce these

negative discriminations with this act. The employer has to pay the same wage for the

same positions irrespective of skin color and gender. If this does not happen, the employee

can go to court with this problem and none of the employers want to take risks. This was

the importance of the law in a nutshell. Let’s see its results. I read an article which was

published 3 years after the act had been passed by Travis Waldron. Unfortunately, it did

not show any good for me; he wrote that neither the white nor the black women’s earnings

reached 80 % of men’s wages in most cases. Of course, black women got less money than

white. It is a pity because half of America’s workforce is made up of women and it is

harder to pay for everything if a woman lives alone or has to grow up a child alone,

education, and healthcare and so on. The situation is even harder when we speak about a

family where a mother is the only bread-winner. I really hope that we can see a rise in

wages during the next period, but I do not believe in wonder.

21

The ‘Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act’ is really

based on race, gender and disability. The birth of this act goes back to Matthew Shepard

and James Byrd Jr.’s case. Matthew was killed because he was gay and James was an

African – American who was killed by two white supremacists. In a nutshell: this act will

protect the ethnic minorities, disadvantaged people and gay, lesbian and transgender

people. Let’s see its results. First, I read about a case which was told by Denny Walsh.

Three white men attacked a white man and his African – American partner in a car park,

near their car. The three offenders scandalized the other two, damaged the car and

committed mayhem on the victims. The court determined that this happened because of the

woman’s race. All of the principals decided on a 10-year prison sentence. Through this

story we can realize that racism was not solved by this act.

The next article that I found is available on the Brandeis University’s official site. In this

article the writer wrote about a murder which happened February 26, 2012. As we can see,

it happened after the act had been passed. A 17 – year – old Black American boy was shot

by a 28 – year- old multi – racial Hispanic American male. The opinions were split: on the

one hand, many people thought that the Negro boy was innocent. On the other hand, the

murderer stated that he shot because of self- defense. Due to this, he was not found guilty.

During the same year an other crime happened in Texas which had racial intention.

Analyzing Rebekah Herzberg’s lines it turned out that three white men grievously injured

an African – American man, who was just waiting for the bus. None of them knew him,

but they beat him because of his skin color. When the police arrived at the spot, they

started to scold down the black officers. The maximum sentence in prison is 10 years

again. Also, they committed several dishonorable things such as burglary, mayhem and

domestic violence. Was it fair? I do not think so.

3.2. Obama’s second term

As we are living in the second term, I cannot write draw final conclusions.

Fortunately, most of the acts still have effects nowadays. Moreover, there are bills, which

only influenced people in the second term. Let’s see them systematically.

3.2.1. The black population still suffer from the ‘depression’

I was interested in the long – term effects of the ‘American Recovery and

Reinvestment Act’. Algernon Austin’s report showed me that at the end of 2012 the

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unemployment among African – Americans was higher than before the economic crisis of

2007. It was not very reassuring. It is not surprising that the unemployment rate among

ethnicities is much higher than among whites. It also turned out that there are fields where

Black Americans do very well; for example, in transportation and moving material

occupations, or management and technical occupations. So if the government establishes

new workplaces in these fields, they will apply for the jobs. It sounds easy but the

president has to make clever decisions which will be good for almost everybody to protect

the country from the increasing racism.

The ‘Unemployment Compensation Extension Act’ was signed in July, 2010. This

act gave a chance who suffered from the economic crisis to apply for unemployment

benefits to people. I thought that this act would really help the poor African – Americans,

but the National Black Caucus of State Legislators research showed right the opposite. It

referred to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2013, which told us what we knew

from my previous examinations: the unemployment rate among Black Americans is much

higher than the national rate and than it was in 2009. We speak about data from 2013. In

my interpretation it means that the economic actions mean nearly nothing for them. As we

can see in the site’s following chart, there are areas, where the Negro unemployment as

opposed to the whole population is very high.

Table 3: Select National & State Unemployment Rates by Racial Category

State

Total

Unemployment

Rate (2012

Average)

Black Population

(2010 Census)

2012 Black

Unemployment

Rate

Latino

Population

(2010 Census)

2012 Latino

Unemployment Rate

United States 8.1% 13% 13.8% 16% 10.3%

Arkansas 7.6% 16% 15.9% 6% 5.5%

Florida 8.4% 16% 13.8% 23% 9.4%%

Georgia 9.1% 30% 13.4% 9% 10.1%

Illinois 8.7% 15% 16.0% 16% 10.2%

Michigan 9.1% 14% 16.9% 4% 10.8%

Missouri 6.9% 12% 12.9% 4% 6.1%

North Carolina 9.2% 23% 15.6% 8% 8.8%

South

Carolina

9.4% 29% 16.1% 5% 7.9%

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

23

The ‘VOW to Hire Heroes Act’ was accepted by the House on October 12, 2011. Its

aim was to urge employers to occupy the nation’s veterans. Alluding to House Committee

on Veterans’ Affairs site, both sides can achieve with several allowance such as tax credits

or ‘Translating Military Skills and Training’. This was a necessary law, because the

unemployment rate was relatively high among the veterans. How is it connected to African

– Americans? Because many of them served as soldiers and almost nobody commemorate

them. However, when they fought for America, they did not see the white or black

America. They saw their country, and that is all. I got the historical background from Rep.

Charles Rangel’s article. It mentioned that the Blacks were infantry units during the Civil

War so it has quite an old history. Despite their bravery, the unemployment rate amongst

African – American veterans was twice as high as the Whites’ in 2011. It is unfair, because

they really fought for their homeland and will they not enjoy its benefits? I hope this law

will help reduce the unemployment gap between the races. Every man and woman who

protects their countries is a hero irrespective of their skin color.

The ‘Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act’ (JOBS Act) was signed by President

Obama on April 5, 2012 “in support of entrepreneurship and small business growth. The

JOBS Act is designed to encourage small business and startup funding by easing federal

regulations and allowing individuals to become investors” - as Jamie Farrell wrote. It is

good, because as Nathan Bennett – Fleming says in his interview with Lily Hay Newman,

it will support Black American innovators, who may not have the required financial

background without it. They want to start their own businesses many times just like whites

but the money as the main problem traverses their dénouement. Fortunately, the

BlackStartup’s main targets are black colleges, so maybe they can help to solve this issue.

3.2.2. The ObamaCare in progress

We all know the importance of the ObamaCare and within it the CHIPRA. As I read

Kevin Oshinskie’s writing, it turns out that more than 60% of African – American people

may have an entitlement to these allowances. Moreover, if the states expand Medicaid, it

will solve nearly 95% of Black Americans’ health care issues. It means that only 1 out of

20 will have to pay the full price of health insurance, which will be quite a huge

preference. This article also pointed out the high death rate among Black American

children and their most common diseases that I analyzed above. The problem is again that

they cannot afford the medical attendance, the prevention and so on. The fear for racism

can also procure diseases such as hypertonia, depression or drug addiction. The importance

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is here the high number of infant and children death. Maybe these allowances will save

many African – Americans life who suffer from cancer, diabetes and so on. The first step is

that they have to be enrolled.

The ban of flavored cigarettes was a relatively big issue in Obama’s first term. The

question was about the menthol: is it a harmful flavor? Should it be banned, too? Many

people, who were against tobacco, supported this thought, because they stated that the taste

of menthol reduced the feeling of its harm so it was more addictive than the other flavors.

The Food and Drug Administration shared this opinion, too in 2013, as it is mentioned on

the CancerToday.org’s site. It is significant, because most of the smoking African –

Americans (approximately 80%) use menthol tobaccos or cigarettes.

As American Lung Association reports, the city of Washington also sent in a Citizen

Petition for prohibiting the menthol as a flavor in cigarettes in April, 2013.

According to BeforeIt’sNews.com’s writing, there were tobacco products such as Black &

Mild and Swisher Sweets, which were under the regulation. Luckily, the city of Chicago

did not permit this in 2013. Moreover, the city stated that the e-cigar was prohibited for

children. The fight against menthol and for Black Americans lives has started.

Unconventionally, tobacco companies exclaim against the prohibition, because it will not

be good for them and as their point of view these regulations will lead to the illegal

tobacco trade. Nowadays there are illegal trades so I cannot think that the ban of the

menthol flavored cigarettes will seriously change the situation. An other argument next to

this regulation is the fact that many African – Americans stated that they can give up

smoking, if the cigarette will not have menthol flavor. Moreover, if youngsters do not feel

the odor of menthol, they will less want to try it out. So, I hope the number of users and

sick will reduce dramatically in the future.

The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act has been

in force since 1990. In the beginning it supported the treatment and the health care for

people who are suffering from that disease. There were several reauthorizations such as the

2009 one which help to link the infected people and take them to care. It is an important

change, because many people from minorities such as Black Americans fall prey to this

sickness rather than the Whites. As the CAREActTarget.org-s wrote, nearly the half of the

patients of this program are African – Americans. It also turns out that there are several

extensions in progress, such as taking care of gay Black American men, too. With this, the

health care will cover the whole American population without any ethnicity and sexual

temper differentiation. Other positive results can be the Enhancing Access for Women of

25

Color Initiative and the Enhancing Engagement and Retention in Quality HIV Care for

Transgender Women of Color. The preceding program will be ending at the end of this

year, while the second will hold until 2016. Both of them are bid fair.

As I mentioned above analyzing the first term, I would like to examine also the

possible results of ‘The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’. The ColorLines.com

reported at the end of 2013, many states planned to refuse these supports and almost 40%

of uninsured Black Americans live in these states or cities. So their situation will not

become better in 25 states.

The Charlotte Post informed the public of a campaign which encourage African –

American to enroll this act. Many faith groups try to educate Black people about ACA and

its benefits. Many doctors are instrumental in this partnership, so people can become

informed about diseases and their treatment. It is necessary, because most of them did not

know whether they can join or not or what is the whole act about. More than 5 million

colored people have enrolled since the enrollment period began but this number is not all

of the affected people.

On the other hand, a survey that was made by National Health and Nutrition Examination

Survey and published on the AnnFamMed.org’s site at autumn, 2013 emerged that twice as

many white American will become entitled of ACA as Black Americans. The following

chart also strengthens my statement:

Table 4: Demographic Characteristics of Adults Aged 19 to 64 Years

Characteristic Current Medicaid Beneficiaries

Potentially Eligible for Medicaid

Under ACA

Mean age, y (95% CI) 38.7 (37.4–40.1) 36.3 (35.2–37.4)

Sex, % (95% CI)

Male 33.3 (30.1–36.6) 49.2 (46.0–52.4)

Female 66.7 (63.4–69.9) 50.8 (47.6–54.0)

Race/ethnicity, % (95% CI)

Non-Hispanic white 49.9 (39.8–60.1) 58.8 (48.7–68.2)

Non-Hispanic black 25.2 (19.0–32.7) 20.0 (15.3–25.6)

Mexican American 9.8 (7.3–13.1) 11.7 (6.2–21.0)

Other 15.0 (11.0–20.1) 9.6 (6.6–13.8)

Source: United States, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2007–2010

It seems more and more that the colored people will not profit as much as the

whites…again.

26

3.2.3. Black people have no better chances?

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act had the fifth anniversary this year. Unfortunately,

African – American women still earn 62 cents on every dollar which is earned by white

men. As it turns out from the Colorlines.com’s article, black women who work as

waitresses or social workers earned less than the quantity that I mentioned above. These

facts have not solved the bad living conditions of black families. Is this the ‘big change’

that we were waiting for?

Four years after the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention

Act the situation has not changed at all.

In August, 2013 as Preston Mitchum wrote, a 21- year – old black woman was killed,

because she had a dark skin and she was transgender.

The United States Department of Justice tells about a crime which happened at the end of

October, 2013. Two white men in California hit a 17 – year – old African – American boy

and ranged a gun to an other Black youngster. Both of the principals confessed that they

did it mainly because of racial intention.

The most terrifying crime which spread around America is the so – called ‘knockout

game’. The ‘aim’ of this assault is to knock out a random person with only one smack. As

it turns out from Joe Sterling and Josh Levs’s article, a 27 – year – old white man hit an old

man through this ‘knockout’. Moreover, he said in the video which was made by him the

following: “the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally

televised?" He may get maximum 10 years in prison and maybe a fine. Can these be equal

for human lives? As for me, it is definitely not.

The whole chapter is about acts and bills which was born during Obama’s presidency

and affected somehow the African – Americans. It was difficult to stay in the ‘gold middle

way’ and stay neutral. I tried to collect articles and opinions without any political wing or

racial attitude. An other difficulty was that many have been in progress, so I cannot write

about their exact results. As we can recognize, their situation have not changed

significantly. Moreover, in some fields of life it became worse.

27

4. Analyzing the interviews - Summary

I made two interviews to strengthen my statements of the stagnant African –

Americans situation in the United States. Unfortunately it was not smooth, because I could

not find an appropriate white interviewee, who has lived in the United States. It had two

reasons: people did not want to answer my questions, neither with their names nor

anonymously. The second problem was that if I found a person, it turned out later that he /

she is racist or holds extremist views and therefore the balance would not work. After my

limitations, let’s see the interviews.

My first interviewee is a 26 – year – old Hungarian woman, who lived in the United

States for 5 years. Gabriella Koltai lived in several states, such as Texas, Florida, and so

on. So she had several experiences of living in America. As she mentioned, she went

abroad during Obama’s first presidency, so she felt the effects of his ‘decisions’. She

answered very frankly and straightforward. As she experienced, African – Americans have

had more rights since Obama’s presidency. Unfortunately, she met more Black Americans

who fit into the stereotype than the ‘exceptions’. So she did not look on them as good

people. However, she mentioned that poor black and white people neither want to work nor

to learn. In this case we can realize that she did not protect White Americans. Moreover,

she wrote that there are exceptions among African – Americans who want to reach

something in their lives. From her point of view, the Obama administration have had a

blast not just the black minority, but for everyone in the United States. Prices raised but

salaries did not. The only good thing that she mentioned the ObamaCare, because many

black people did not have a health insurance and maybe this problem will be solved. She

thinks that everybody has the equal chance for learning, but colored people are simply lazy

to do it. However, there are also exceptions and most of them are learning with athletic

scholarships as she knows. According to her experiences, the racial issue is still the same.

Her opinion is that white men are always superior to black population. No matter if the

white person is a man or a woman.

The other interviewee is a 19 – year – old African – American man, who is living in

the United States. He wants to become a doctor so he learns Pre – Medical at the Calvin

College, Grand Rapids. Knowing this information about Jeiel McClain Chagas Burrell we

28

can easily realize that he is one of the ‘exceptions’. An other interesting fact about him is

that he speaks 5 languages: English, Spanish, Japanese, French and Portuguese. He was so

kind and helpful. Through his opinion I can see what I realized from the articles: the

situation of African – Americans is still the same as it was before Obama or a little bit

worse. He did not benefit from the education acts, although his father is unemployed. His

father and his girlfriend both have to pay monthly $178 for the ObamaCare. From my point

of view, it is such a huge sum of money for a ‘family’ where there is a college student and

an unemployed adult. However, as he mentioned the business owners also have to pay

extra costs for insurances, but maybe they have enough money for it. He is afraid of the

future because now it seems that if the ObamaCare continues, many people will not be able

to receive the care. Above all he likes the fact that an African – American person is the

first man in the United States, because he hopes that it will give chances to other minorities

and maybe women, too. His viewpoint about racism was not surprising to me. He said that

“racism has just always been around”. In my opinion it tells everything. White women

often rush next to him and there are still states where he does not want to live: Alabama,

Georgia, and so on. No matter that he is studying in a catholic college, people do not

believe that God or religion can solve this problem. Moreover, people who were racists

before Obama became more racists because of his acts and decisions. No matter if Mr.

Obama had to solve what his forbears left to him. When I ask about his possible vote, he

did not answer Obama immediately .He would like to know his adversary’s program; he

would not want to choose of the skin color. How interesting is this from a Black

American’s mouth?

After analyzing the interviews and the articles I have to say that the situation of

African – Americans has not changed significantly. From my interviews point of view the

issue of racism has not got better or worse, but the articles did not say the same. Maybe it

depends on which state we are talking about. Maybe we expect too much from Barack

Obama. However, we must not forget that there are several acts which will have effects in

the future. I hope these effects will be positive for Black Americans and sooner or later we

can see a less racist, more tolerant United States of America.

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5. Is this the America what Martin Luther King dreamt about? – Conclusion

Martin Luther King had a dream about a country where everybody is equal,

irrespectively of skin color. I try to find the answer in my thesis for the following question:

Did his dream come true?

I would like to say yes, but if I did, I would tell a lie. Nowadays, America’s first man

is an African – American but still it means nothing. I really wanted to prove just the

opposite, although my task was to strengthen this stagnant situation. Unfortunately, the

latter has been proved based on my findings.

When we read about Obama as a mushroom in the political life with many successes

we thought that ‘Yes! Here is the Negro who can change America! The Magic Negro!’, but

nothing happens, which would be really important for Black Americans.

Through examining laws and acts, I wanted to show the present situation of dark skin

people in the United States. Unfortunately, his acts and decisions mostly have effects on

everybody, which would not be a problem in itself however the problem is that it did not

improve the position of Afro-Americans.

The solutions for the economic crisis were not good enough for them: the highest

unemployment rate is among the African – Americans. However, researches showed that

in many areas they are very good labor forces, but they do not get enough possibility to

confirm it. If they get a job, they will not get as much money as a white person would get.

This can be because they are lack of knowledge, money and the employers do not trust

them. Here comes the negative discrimination.

The ObamaCare sounded good, but as many states did not want to join to this

program, many Black Americans will be out of it. However, there are still, whose life will

get easier because of the acts which compose the ObamaCare. They will be able to prevent

diseases, so the risk of different types of cancers, obesity, and diabetes will reduce. I have

to write these things in future tense because we have not yet seen the results. The

‘Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act’ can also help to decrease the number of

uninsured children. Again, it will be good for check the medical status of the patients and

cure time in time. I could say that the ‘Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control

Act’ addresses Black Americans, but I know that not just they are who smoke cigarettes. It

is true that most of them smoke menthol – flavored ones, and if the protestors can reach its

30

ban, I hope that it will be good for them. Again, there is a long way before we will able to

see the possible results. The ‘Ryan White CARE Act’ will be good for people, who suffer

from HIV/AIDS. I realized that more people from ethnicities get this sickness than white

ones, but it does not matter but it does not matter because this act was not made solely for

their sake. We must not have to forget white gay, lesbian, bisexual people or illegal drug

users who also ‘benefit’ from this program.

In the field of education, the government and teachers try to improve the skill of

minority pupils’. It has been successful, but the difference between them and white

students is still identifiable. The ‘Healthy, Hunger – Free Kids Act’ will be good for

students who come from poorer living circumstances. As my Hungarian interviewee

mentioned, not just black people live in poverty, so we do not have to expand this act from

them. Moreover, the healthy way of life is a target for everybody who cares about their

well – being.

Last but not least, I would summarize my observations about racism. I am afraid that

I have to agree with my interviewees when they wrote that there is still racism in America.

No matter whether the ‘Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention

Act’ is in force or not, there are many white supremacist who hate African – Americans

because of their skin color or Barack Obama. In the worst case, because of both.

Unfortunately, the ‘Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act’ has not solved the problem of unequal

salaries; and from my point of view, we will have to wait for it for a good while.

Both of my interviewees’ viewpoints were that the situation of African – Americans

have not got better since Obama’s administration. According to the articles which I

examined, I have to accept their opinion.

After 51 years of Martin Luther King’s dream, when an African – American man

governs the country, today’s America is still not the country where everybody is really

equal independently from their skin color…not yet.

31

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n.d. Web. 4 Feb 2014.

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American Community.” Maria Cantwell: United States Senator for Washington.

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“Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA)”. MediCaid.gov.

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“Goals of the Recovery Act”. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The

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“Searching the Genome to Understand Cancer Disparities among Minority Populations.”

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in 2013.” Finances Online. Finances Online, 2013. Web. 4 Mar 2014.

“The Affordable Care Act Promotes Equal Opportunity for African Americans.” The

Leadership Conference. The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights,

March 2012. Web. 4 Feb 2014.

“The African-American Labor Force in the Recovery — 2011”. United States Deparment

of Labor. United States Deparment of Labor, 2011. Web. 17 Jan 2014.

“The Credit CARD Act.” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. United States

Government, 9 Apr 2014. Web. 12 Apr 2014.

“Unemployment Insurance Benefits: Budgetary Restraint, Federal Action, and Social

Impact.” National Black Caucus of States Legislators. National Black Caucus of

States Legislators, n.d. Web. 4 Mar 2014.

“Uninsured Children.” Children’s Defense Fund. Children’s Defend Fund, n.d. Web. 17

Jan 2014.

“VOW To Hire Heroes Act of 2011.” The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. The

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, n.d. Web. 4 Mar 2014.

“What are the Ethics of Hate Crimes Legislation?” International Center for Ethics, Justice

and Public Life. Brandeis University, n.d. Web. 4 Feb 2014.

“What is ObamaCare / What is Obama Care?” Obama Care Facts. Obama Care Facts, n.d.

Web. 4 Mar 2014.

Austin, Algernon. “Infrastructure investments and Latino and African American

job creation.” Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute, 14 Mar 2013.

Web. 17 Jan 2014.

Bokor, Pál. Barack Obama Superstar. Budapest: Atlantic Press, 2008. Print.

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Atlantic Press, 2010. Print.

Diaz, Von. “What Ever Happened to Michelle Obama’s School Lunch Program?”

Colorlines. Race Forward, 9 Sep 2013. Web. 4 Mar 2014.

33

Edney, Hazel Trice. “White House Outlines Tax Benefits For Blacks.” Black Radio

Network. Minority News, n.d. Web. 4 Febr 2014.

Farrell, Jamie. “The JOBS Act: What Startups and Small Businesses Need to

Know [Infographic].” Forbes. Forbes Inc, 21 Sep 2012. Web. 4 Mar 2014.

Herzbert, Rebekah. “Peckerwoods Convicted Under Matthew Shepard James Byrd Jr. Hate

Crimes Prevention Act.” The Dreamin’ Demon. The Dreamin’ Demon. 18 Apr 2012.

Web. 4 Feb 2014.

Hunt, Jazelle. “Credt Card Debt Threatens Black Middle Class.” Black Voice News. Brown

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Hutson, Brittany. “How Much Is Race a Factor Behind Health Care Opposition?” Madame

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Johnson, Fawn. “Grading No Child Left Behind.” National Journal. Atlantic Media

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Jones, Imara. “Why Women Should Be First in Line for Salary Boosts.” Colorlines. Race

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Mock, Brentin. “Many Uninsured African Americans Will Benefit From Obamacare…but

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Sterling, Joe and Josh Levs. Feds: “'Knockout' attack was a hate crime.” CNN

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Williams, Jasmine A. ““Unemployed (And Black) Need Not Apply.”Racism.org.

Racism.org, Winter, 2013. Web. 4 Feb 2014.

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7. Összefoglaló

Szakdolgozatom témája az afro - amerikaiak helyzete Barack Obama elnöksége óta.

Martin Luther King egy olyan országról álmodott, ahol minden ember egyenrangú

függetlenül a bőrszínétől. Szakdolgozatomban a következő kérdésre kerestem a választ:

valóra vált az álma?

Szívesen írnám azt, hogy igen, azonban ha ezt tenném, hazudnék. Napjainkban

Amerika legfontosabb embere egy afro – amerikai azonban ez még mindig nem bír túl

nagy jelentőséggel. Igazán szerettem volna bebizonyítani az ellenkezőjét még akkor is, ha

az én feladatom a változatlan helyzetük kihangsúlyozása volt. Sajnos megfigyeléseim és

kutatásaim alapján ez utóbbi igazolódott.

Amikor Obama hirtelen feltörő politikai karrierjéről olvashattunk, mindannyian azt

gondoltuk, hogy „Végre itt egy néger, aki megváltoztathatja a világot!” Azonban semmi

olyasmi nem történt, ami igazán fontos lenne az afro – amerikaiak számára.

A törvények és rendelkezések vizsgálata közben ezen etnikai kisebbség jelenlegi

helyzetét szerettem volna bemutatni. Sajnos az elnök döntései és törvényei mindenkire

hatással voltak, ami önmagában nem lenne probléma, azonban az afro – amerikaiak

helyzetén nem segített és a társadalmi egyenlőtlenség mértéke sem csökkent.

A gazdasági válság megfékezésére hozott döntések sem voltak számukra eléggé

kedvezőek. Tudniillik, hogy a munkanélküliség a négerek között a legsúlyosabb problémák

közé sorolandó. A kutatások szerint számos területen nagyon jó munkaerőként szolgálnak,

azonban nem jutnak elég lehetőséghez, hogy ezt bebizonyítsák. Amennyiben alkalmazzák

őket, akkor sem kapnak annyi fizetést, mint fehér társaik ugyanabban a pozícióban. Ez az

elsajátított tudás és pénz hiányából fakad, valamint a munkáltató bizalmatlanságából. Az

élet e területén is a negatív diszkriminációval kell szembesülniük.

Az ObamaCare jól hangzott, de számos állam nem szeretett volna csatlakozni a

programhoz, így rengeteg afro – amerikai nem részesülhet a törvénycsomag által nyújtott

kedvezményekből. Szerencsére akadnak olyan négerek is, akiknek az élete ez által

könnyebbé válik. A rendszeres orvosi vizsgálatok révén esélyük lesz megelőzni a

betegségeket, így jó eséllyel csökkenhet a túlsúlyos, daganatos – valamint cukorbetegek

36

száma. A ’Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act’ törvénybe iktatásával számos

gyermek egészségügyi biztosítási problémája megoldódhat. Mondhatnám, hogy a ‘Family

Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act’ az afro – amerikaiakat célozza meg,

azonban nyilvánvalóan nemcsak ők dohányoznak. Valóban ők vásárolnak leginkább

mentol aromával rendelkező dohányárut, és ha ennek tilalmát sikerülne elérni, az valóban

hasznukra válna; viszont még hosszú az út a végeredményig. A ’Ryan White CARE Act’

azok számára nyújt segítséget, akik HIV/AIDS fertőzéstől szenvednek. Bizonyított tény,

hogy sokkal több színes bőrű testében van jelen a kór fehér társaikhoz képest, viszont ez

nem jelenti egyértelműen azt, hogy ez a törvény csak értük van. Nem szabad

elfeledkeznünk, a fehér bőrű homo – illetve, biszexuális egyénekről, valamint

drogfüggőkről, akik számára ez a rendelkezés szintén mentőövvé válhat.

Az oktatásban a tanárok igyekeznek fejleszteni a kisebbségből származó gyermekek

készségeit. Ez sikeresnek mondható, azonban a köztük és fehér társaik között fellelhető

különbség még mindig jelentős. A ’Healthy, Hunger – Free Kids Act’ azok számára

kedvez, akik nem túl tehetős körülmények között élnek. Ahogyan magyar interjúalanyom

is megemlítette, nemcsak az afro – amerikaiak élnek szegényebb területeken, így nem

szabad rájuk korlátoznunk ezt a törvényt sem. Mindezek felett úgy vélem, az egészséges

életmód minden olyan ember számára célkitűzés, aki akár kicsit is törődik az egészségével.

Utolsó pontként, de nem utolsó sorban a rasszizmusról tett megfigyeléseimet

összegezném. Attól tartok, hogy mindkét interjúalanyommal egyet kell értenem abban,

hogy a rasszizmus Amerikában még mindig jelen van. Nem számít, hogy a ‘Matthew

Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act’ érvényben van-e vagy sem,

mivel számos fehér amerikai rasszista és gyűlöli fekete társaikat bőrszínük, vagy országuk

jelenlegi elnöke miatt. Legrosszabb esetben mindkét tényező szerepet játszik. Sajnos a

’Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act’ sem oldotta meg a fizetések közötti egyenlőtlenségeket és

saját meglátásom szerint ennek a problémának a megoldása még jó ideig várat magára.

Egyik interjúalanyom szerint sem javul az afro – amerikaiak helyzete Barack Obama

elnöksége óta. A cikkek és a könyvek tanulmányozása után sajnos egyet kell értenem

velük.

51 évvel Martin Luther King álma után, mikor végre egy afro – amerikai áll az

ország élén, Amerikában még mindig nem létezik a faji megkülönböztetés nélküli,

egységes társadalom.

37

8. Appendix

Interviews

Hello Gabi!

Sorry to bother you, but I think I need your help, if it is possible. I will graduate at

the university this year and I am writing my thesis about the situation of African –

Americans in the United States. As I know that you lived there I would like to

inquire whether there are any black friends of yours who live there?

Thank you for your answer in advance!

Hi there!

You are absolutely not bothering me. I would like to help you very gladly, but the

truth is that the four years that I spent in America I got to know and worked with 3

– 4 Black Americans and I am not really in communication with them. Honestly, I

always gave them a miss, because they're not a good company. Because most of

them do not do much except for smoking weed and unfortunately the majority of

them have this attitude in the country it is not surprising that I also had to work

with them. So even if I were in communication with them, I think you would not

even take advantage of it. However, if you want I can tell you what I saw of the

Negroes positions’ in the U.S. This may help you somehow?

Yes, it would be great!

This is an opinion, rather the opposite of reading ones.

I would like to write about their situation under the Obama presidency both about

the first and the second presidential term. I am interested in their financial, medical

and educational background because contrary to the expectations I read that Obama

has not helped them too much. Also, the possible changes of racism would be

important, because this will be the main point of my thesis. If you could say

something about it, I would appreciate it!

Of course, I will write down gladly what I experienced. Basically, Negroes have

more rights than years ago, but racism is still alive among the Whites. Especially

the wealthier class who are not schmoozed cordially of the Negroes. Because all of

the Whites thought that Black are trading with drugs or weapons and I have to add

that most of them really do this. However, poorer Whites also do this, so they hit it

38

off with them. They neither want to learn nor to work. I am afraid that they are in

majority, because the country ‘maintains’ them. You know, there are plenty of

benefits and they live on them. I went there when the Obama administration’s first

term was in function and yes, he made no good for the country. Moreover I

experienced that the situation got worse, not just for Negroes, but for everyone.

What I remember is that the prices went high at the time, but the salary did not rise

proportionately. In fact the 2009 salary still remains - which is 7.25 per hour. In

turn, the food and fuel prices raised so much. I remember when I bought my car

and refuelled it for 40 dollars. This was in April, 2010. Half a year later I had to

pay 60 dollars for it but the wages have not increased until today. America wants

to hide this. Due to these facts those who were poor are even poorer now. In

education they do not receive any disadvantages because they are Negroes; they

can attend any schools they are just simply lazy to learn. Of course, there are

exceptions to this who still want to achieve something in life. They usually learn

with an athletic scholarship at colleges / universities. However, the education

system is not just good, but I am sure you know that. Of course, the universities and

colleges are quite good, but the educational level of secondary schools is far lower

than the Europeans. They promised health care reform but everyone must pay for

insurance and the employer must conclude health insurance for its employees

,which was accepted in 2010. That was the only good thing that the Obama

government has done. This improved the health care system a little, but of course

by making the payment of health insurance compulsory it means even more of a

financial burden on American families. Of course they enticed everyone that there

will be more benefit in the health insurance and people will receive higher care, but

it is not just about it. Anyway, it was necessary because most people had no

insurance and of course especially the black families did not have any so with this

he favored them to some extent.

Turning back to racism that I still experienced is that there will always be more of

a white man's word against a Negro. Especially, if a white woman says something

to a Negro it will hardly be query. Women basically have a much greater say in

America, and the American government really protects them.

Well that's just come to my mind, I hope I could help you. If something else comes

to your mind and perhaps I can help ,feel free to write.

Good luck with your thesis!

39

Dear Jeiel,

I am a student whowould like to make an interview with you. István was so kind

and helped me to find you. I will be graduating this June and I am going to write

my thesis paper about Afro-Americans who live in the U.S. I have been curious

about their life since Barack Obama's presidency; how their life has changed;

whether it has become worse or better?

Would you be so kind as to help me?

Thank you for your response in advance!

Yeah for sure, I'd love to help you. When would you be free to talk? Do you have

skype?

It will be good for me if you write your answers because I will have to make a kind

of "copy" as an attachment to my thesis.

Mmk, cool. Well, ask me and I'll be sure to answer as well as I can when I

can.

Oh, you are so kind, thank you! So let's start! What part of the US are you from?

I am originally from Winter Park, Florida. I've lived in Tampa and Orlando

for most of my life. So I've lived in the central area of Florida. Florida is the

southernmost state in the east of the US.

:)) I know where Florida is. And how old are you? Sorry, but I need some

'formal' info.

It's cool. I just turned 19.

So what kind of 'change/changes' did President Obama make in your life

either in his first or in his second term (now)? You can write about

everything. Schooling, medical background (Obama Care), financial

situation.

As I read the articles, I found that although Obama is the first Afro-

American president, he did not really make the situation of the Afro-

Americans better. And I need people's opinions who are concerned in this

field.

As much as I like Obama's character and charisma, he hasn't really helped

me or my family at all. As a matter of fact, the Obama care that was

supposed to help my father has actually hurt him. He pays $178 dollars a

40

month for Obama care and his girlfriend also pays $178 dollars a month.

They are both African Americans. My father is also unemployed right now.

Obama hasn't really affected my ability to pay for school or any other

finances aside from the fact that my father can't help me pay for school

right now.

In all truth, he's only made business owners pay more for insurance. I have

a close friend whose family has to pay extra insurance thanks to Obama;

extra, unnecessary insurance.

I'm currently studying Japanese and Pre-Med and it makes me wonder how

many of my future patients would be unable to receive my care if Obama

care were still in effect.

Well, there is a friend of my dad's girlfriend who doesn't pay Obama Care.I

don't know why.

Is it a kind of resistance or because he/she does not have to pay?

It is because she doesn't have to pay. Someone did her insurance for her and

now she doesn't have to pay Obama care. So, yep. That's about it from him.

I do, however, like that there has been an African American president. That,

in itself, is an amazing feat.

He came into such a mess and I believe there is so much happening behind

the scenes that there is only so much that Obama can do in the first place. I

feel that having color in the office has opened doors for latinos and,

perhaps, even women.

It is good to think of the new chances which maybe women and latinos get

thanks to Obama.

But what about the issue of racism? What do you think? Has the situation

changed since your country has had an African American president?

Mmm, I can't say it has gotten better. People still have preconceived

thoughts that I'm dangerous and what not. People who were not fond of

Blacks before Obama's election, are even less fond of us because of him.

Because there is so much bad happening in the government thanks to

countless other presidents before him, Obama is getting all the blames and

making racist folk say, "See?" "I told you no nigger can run this country."

41

And it's sad.

And those who actually voted for him are kind of disappointed. So, racism

hasn't gotten better. But I can't really say it has gotten worse. Racism has

just always been around. I mean, there are still certain states that I wouldn't

want to be in: Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama are a few.

I mean, there are women who just speed walk with their heads down past

me, almost tripping and falling, even IF I was with a white gentleman. We

went to one of the best schools in the city that nurtures amazing children of

God and still people who say they are "Christian" cannot deal with such a

simple problem of fear.

So, that's my thing on racism. Hasn't really changed for the better as far as I

can tell. What do you have next?

Well, I have only one question and that is all. You are very kind and I am

so grateful for you!

No problem, whatever you need. If ever want to know more, just ask me or

Istvan. Maybe I'll meet you in person some day.

If you have to vote this year, will you vote for Obama?

Depends on who is running against him. I wouldn't vote blindly just

because many did it for his first term. I can say that I would be biased

towards choosing another president. I don't want more problems to be in his

name. I honestly want the government to work, but should it crash at some

point, I don't want it in Obama's name. That'll just maim black race and

forever hold that over our heads.

So, I'll have to understand more about what is going on and what both

candidates have to offer.

:)) That is a fair answer and a very good ending for this interview Thank

you so much again!

I’m glad I could help!