There are words here. My apologies.
We've had other pro-Black candidates attempt to run for the office of President, and the main thing that got them ignored by the power structure/ mindset of this capitalist, racist, white, male, wealthy, plutocratic oligarchy that is (currently) our country is that they ran as pro-Black. I was a teenager in the early 90's, and although I didn't run around quoting Tupac, one of his lyrics stuck with me: "America ain't ready to see a Black president." America still wasn't ready when Barack won, and Trump is evidence of that. The criticism that Obama didn't do enough as a Black president to push Black priorities says that we were hoping for him to champion culturally specific causes that would have been utterly railroaded by the wealthy white men surrounding him on all sides. If he had prioritized Black communities over all else, he would have easily been a one-term president because, as a country, we are still struggling to move past this obstacle.
Comparing his open support of the LGBTQ community compared to what we believe is silence toward the Black community is an understandable frustration until we remember that many (I personally believe the majority) of the white men in power all share the practices of at least two or three of those letters when the cameras are off and the meetings are over. More of them were/are leaders in the fields of politics, corporate America, and entertainment, so it makes sense to protect his office (and secure that second term) by forwarding that particular cause. Honestly, the color of his skin is what scared America the most, and, as a bonus, he was able to keep himself and his family squeaky clean while doing the things that a moderate white Democratic president would do (and speak intelligently along the way).
Obama understood that he might be threatened with impeachment over a tan suit while someone like Trump would allowed to continue supporting foreign interference, practicing abuse of power, instigating racism, and on and on and on. Is Obama perfect? No. But, he also understood that he would have to manage a country full of people that hated him and his family without giving them a reason to remove him from office (or from this plane of existence). He did so, and the fact that he did so with a brown face left racist whites with enough cognitive dissonance to elect Trump and help create our current situation. Every day he was alive as President, he worked to unravel deeply embedded racism in some, and helped others to see beyond what they were taught to believe about themselves as Black Americans. However, to all the people criticizing him for "not doing enough for Black people," I say this:
Do better.
If you read all of this, thank you.
