Obama S Impact on Race Relations and Society Essay

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Election of Obama and the Problems of the Social Dynamic

There has not been any positive change in social dynamics as a result of the election of the first African-American president. If anything, race relations have worsened under the Obama Administration: the Black Lives Matter movement has come into being as a result of police violence on black citizens; there is a definite push back against the Politically Correct crowd in Washington and its depiction of certain words and expressions as being taboo in modern society (while leaders like Trump poll exceptionally well among the electorate, indicating that there is a deep and wide divide between those who embrace Political Correctness and those who challenge it). The social dynamic between whites and blacks is tense and continues to be tense on a nationwide level (with the Trayvon Martin incident igniting protests across the nation), and gender issues are just as controversial as ever, with North Carolina recently making headlines because of a bill to limit transgender individuals from using the public restroom designated for the gender with which they identify. Numerous celebrities and high-profile persons have attacked the state while others have supported it. Famous transgender Caitlyn Jenner used the female restroom in Trump Tower after Trump publicly stated that she could use any restroom she wants in his facility. So many factors and variables are at play in society that it is impossible for the election of one African-American to the office of the President to really change the direction and interplay of all these variables and resolve issues and tensions that have deep roots in American life, society, politics and economics. This paper will explain these factors and show what occurred on a social level that generated the advent of Obama's political ascent and how conditions have worsened overall regardless of his ascent.

The fact that America has the highest prison population on the planet (and that he majority of the inmates are overwhelmingly minority persons) points to a very dangerous and underlying fundamental problem in American society. Minorities are looked down upon as second-class citizens and they always have been in America. America was founded as a country by and for WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) and everyone else was just someone to be exploited. Slavery was ended by Lincoln, not because he believed in equality (he wanted to send the blacks back to Africa) but because it was an expedient way to destabilize the South and undermine the Southern social order. After the war, Jim Crow laws continued to oppress the so-called "free" blacks and in order to escape racism in the South, the blacks moved to urban areas in the North where oppression in the form of wage slavery continued, as it does today. However, today's slavery is also institutionalized in the form of legislation that targets black communities, such as today's drug laws. (It is legal to purchase one's drug from Big Pharma but not from a young black man on the street corner). Thus, minorities are imprisoned and put to work for Big Business, working for a dollar a day wages for companies like Sony and Nike. Obama's election was viewed as a great moment in American history because it supposedly represented the confirmation of equality -- but it has appeared to be a hollow victory -- like the abolition of slavery: the same underlying trends and efforts of the "deep state" continue to cause tension between the races and continue to oppress minorities.

Obama himself has not done anything to make matters any better. Upon his election he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the hopes that he would discontinue the wars started by his predecessor Bush -- but he has done nothing but continue them, authorizing bombings in the Middle East and drone strikes that have resulted in countless dead as well as the extreme blowback of terrorist groups like ISIS that now threaten the whole of European stability and have claimed responsibility for attacks in the U.S. Obama's foreign policy has further helped to aggravate Islamaphobia in the U.S., with more and more people calling for the deportation of Muslims (this is in fact one of the campaign points of Trump -- no more Muslims allowed to enter the U.S.) but such is what happens when one wages continual war against the Muslim population in the Middle East, blowing up hospitals (Doctors Without Borders, for example), wedding parties, and decimating cities by supporting "moderate rebels" (aka terrorists) in attempts to undermine legitimate rulers (such as Assad in Syria or Gaddafi in Libya).

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Obama's wars in the Middle East have enabled the terrorist groups by giving them a legitimacy that allows them to recruit from angry youths who see American imperialism and overreach as destroying communities in their homelands. As a result, more people are suspicious of Muslims (fearing that they too may become terrorists). It is a continuous vicious cycle of war, fear, and violence -- and Obama, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, is partly responsible for its perpetuation.

So it is no surprise that there is more fear and intolerance in the homeland than ever before. The empty words and rhetoric of the Washington elites, who call for tolerance and Political Correctness, yet have no problem bombing foreigners in the Middle East and calling it "collateral damage" -- these people come across as some of the most offensive hypocrites in the world -- are as hollow as can be. Few people trust our political leaders, which is why an outsider like Trump, who is known for his brash assertiveness and direct action, has so much appeal for Americans: they are tired of Politically Correct hypocrisy; they are tired of the myth that just because a leader's skin color is black means he will be good for America; they are tired of the perpetuation of violence and the racism that exists in our policing communities; they are tired of the drug laws that are based more on profit (for Big Pharma) than they are on common sense or actual scientific research; and they are tired of the hypocritical aims of the war party, which is essentially responsible for the explosion of the heroin trade around the world (heroin was nowhere near the problem it is today until the U.S. invaded Afghanistan and took over the poppy fields there, which is where heroin comes from). Thus the war on drugs is not really meant to be won (if it was, the poppy fields would be burned; instead they are allowed to operated); the war on drugs is simply meant to save the market for Big Pharma and to keep blacks in prison where "slavery" can be perpetuated. In fact, the debts that prisoners accrue while in prison become so burdensome that many prisoners never escape the debt-prison cycle even after release: recidivism is acknowledged by the companies that exploit their labor and it is promoted. The underlying fundamental nature of the American socioeconomic-political system is so corrupted in the favor of multinationals and WASP elites that even the election of a black president, which was meant to pacify liberals for a time, is really nothing more than the election of an "Uncle Tom" president -- one who does not really challenge the order of the "deep state" or of the WASP brotherhood.

For this reason, it will take more than just an African-American to stand up: it will take a man of principle and action to stand up -- one like Malcolm X, who articulated his beliefs clearly and effectively and who stood on firm principles and acted upon them in a manner that challenged the establishment. (It was for this reason that he was assassinated -- like Martin Luther King, Jr. -- real challengers to the establishment are not permitted to live long). Had Obama really attempted to alter the American social system for the better, he would not have made it to two terms either.

So the national mood has soured as a result. Obama was ushered in on the hope of "change," but all that resulted was more of the same, which has essentially caused conditions to deteriorate all the way across the board. The big banks that allowed the economy to implode (because of the housing bubble) were not punished. Wall Street and the Fed continue to act recklessly. The economy continues to decline (even though lying pundits claim it is actually improving). If it were improving, the price of gold would not be rebounding like it is; global trade would not be plummeting, and national GDP and interest rates would not be in the sewer. Yet, they are. This too has caused Americans to feel as though they have been double-crossed, as though they are being manipulated and exploited on several levels. And it is not just African-Americans who feel that and are angry: it is also whites, and others, who feel that the establishment has betrayed them and allowed Israeli-firsters, war hawks, Wall….....

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