Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Anthony Monteiro in Harlem, May 31, 2009, When Obama Won, Did We?
Bill Quigley
10 Jun 2009
🖨️ Print Article

If no video is visible above, click here.  Was the election of the nation's First Black President a victory for our people in the long struggle against racism and empire? Or does it simply mark a change in establishment tactics that will make it even more difficult to press the case for economic justice, and an end to militarism and racism? Professor Anthnoy Monteiro, Distinguished Lecturer in African-American Studies and Associate Director of the Institute for the Study of Race and Social Thought at Temple University tells us the answer is easy to see, but hard to swallow.

 

In this brief talk at a Harlem event commemorating the life of Hubert Harrison, one of the pre-eminent black activists of the early 20th century, Monteiro expertly discerns the wreckage of our political landscape, and divines the difference between popular myth and facts on the ground. “

Obama's victory, he suggests, was the transient and temporary victory of marketing, symbolizing neither a new acceptance of black America's strivings on behalf of white America and her establishment, nor of rising black power. Go to the prisons in this country and tell us we have transcended race...” Monteiro demands. And while the black turnout in last November's presidential election was unprecedentedly high, turnout in the mayoral elections of Detroit and Philly, majority black cities for the better part of two generations, was well under 20%. So while black people were sold on Barack Obama, they have yet to be sold on the overall legitimacy of the American political system.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Arnold August
    Justin Trudeau: Most Slavish, Superficial, Hypocritical, Pro-U.S. Prime Minister Ever
    22 Jan 2025
    Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's decade as the leader of the Liberal Party has come to an abrupt and embarrassing halt. His term as PM is marked with unabashed servitude to U.S. interests,…
  • Gabriel Rockhill
    A Major Milestone in Socialist History - A Review of People’s China at 75: The Flag Stays Red
    22 Jan 2025
    "People’s China at 75: The Flag Stays Red" analyzes the People's Republic of China and its ongoing socialist project.
  • Carlos Sirah
    Dispatch: Through the Fire
    22 Jan 2025
    The fires raging through southern California have devastated Black communities, such as in Altadena. The failures of city and state political leadership to provide proper emergency services have…
  • International Manifesto Group
    Jacqueline Luqman
    Trump’s Presidency and the Prospects for Peace in 2025: Adapted Remarks from the IMG
    22 Jan 2025
    Jacqueline Luqman recently delivered these remarks at a webinar hosted by the International Manifesto Group, "Trump’s Presidency and the Prospects for Peace in 2025."
  • Travis Ross
    How Aristide’s Lavalas Family Party Has Lurched to the Right
    22 Jan 2025
    Fanmi Lavalas has fallen far from its roots as a popular progressive movement and is now nothing more than a servant of imperialism.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us