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


  • No Nuclear War
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Margaret Kimberley speaks at the No Nuclear War Conference - National Press Club in Washington
    11 Dec 2024
    On December 7, 2024, Scott Ritter convened a panel at the National Press Club in Washington to discuss the increasing risk of nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Margaret Kimberley was…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio December 6, 2024
    06 Dec 2024
    In this week’s segment, a British journalist gives an update on his case after being charged with violating the Terrorism Act of 2020. But first, we talk to Omali Yeshitela about the sentencing of…
  • Omali Yeshitela
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Omali Yeshitela on the Uhuru 3 Sentencing and the Indictment of the U.S.
    06 Dec 2024
    Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People's Socialist Party Omali Yeshitela joins us from St. Louis to discuss the federal case in which he, Penny Hess, and Jesse Nevel were recently convicted…
  • Richard Medhurst tweet
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Richard Medhurst Discusses the Terrorism Act and the Criminalization of Journalism
    06 Dec 2024
    Richard Medhurst joins us to provide an update on his case resulting from his arrest under the Terrorism Act and discuss the impact of repression on other journalists and international events.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The Problem with Joe and Hunter
    04 Dec 2024
    The outrage surrounding President Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter Biden is not just about clemency for the relatively minor charges he was facing. The younger Biden has lived a life of great…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us