At a Harrison Institute discussion yesterday, professors from the University of Virginia, the University of Richmond and Brown University argued that despite its historic nature, Barack Obama’s presidency does not represent a fulfillment of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream and said linking the two figures is an oversimplification. Others in attendance, though, including University of Virginia African-American Affairs Dean Maurice Apprey, said the professors’ comments “understated” the historical significance of Obama taking office.
The panel, titled “King and Obama: the Dream, the Promise, the Fulfillment” was part of the University’s recognition of the holiday celebrating King earlier this week. The panel focused on the significance of Obama’s inauguration in the context of discussing King’s legacy.
“It was a wonderful day for us, not only because Obama is symbolically a representative of an oppressed people,” said Andrea Simpson, associate political science professor at the University of Richmond. “As a political scientist, we’ve always said that if you had a vowel at the end of your name, you could not be elected president.”
Despite the unprecedented nature of Obama’s election, Simpson cautioned that “what it means most is a change in party leadership.” This can impact issues such as government support for returning veterans and those seeking Social Security, but Simpson argued that the United States is not “even halfway” to King’s goal.
“We should still be happy,” she said. “But we should keep our head on straight.”
The black community continues to face problems such as high rates of infant mortality, incarceration and poverty, she said.
Connecting Obama to King is an oversimplification, University of Virginia Asst. History Prof. Claudrena Harold said. Obama’s victory in November began a period of “politics of self-congratulation,” she said, in which “the mainstream media and the larger society” continued to perpetuate the ideal of American perfectibility.
Simpsons said many in the media and the United States have used Obama’s presidency to “begin the process of liberating itself from its blood-drenched past,” explaining that Obama has been connected to a larger civil rights narrative.
Corey Walker, assistant Africana Studies professor at Brown University, emphasized the inaccuracy of this comparison between King and Obama, who he characterized as centrist and in line with the general attitude of the Democratic Party since the 1980s. Walker described Obama’s ascendency as “far from being a fundamental transformation of America.” He pointed to the tilt of Obama’s academic advisers toward liberalism and the protection of the free market, a foreign policy focused on American “expansion and imperialism” and a national security policy favoring U.S. troop strength and supporting U.S. unilateral action.
Connecting Obama to King “speaks to a larger issue of how King’s activism and his vision has been simplified in ways to silence his salient and ... still relevant criticism of the problem of militarism, corporate greed and the maldistribution of wealth,” Harold said.
Simpson added that politically liberal and black communities make comparisons to King when it is convenient, glossing over King’s more critical and less idealized views.
“He’s always painted as a patriot — the ultimate patriot,” she said, explaining that very few people have an understanding of King beyond his “I Have a Dream” speech.
Harold similarly argued that many members of the black elite and those on the left end of the political spectrum have manipulated King’s beliefs in a problematic fashion. Walker added that this manipulation, when put in the context of a “black political class” that is part of the “entrenched political elite,” caused Obama to become “a logical conclusion.”
During discussions of Obama’s presidency, the precedents set by other members of the black community, such as Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, are de-emphasized in favor of directly linking Obama with King, he said.
“It’s as if all of that is erased away and we go back to King,” Walker said.
African-American Affairs Dean Maurice Apprey, whose office helped to host the panel discussion yesterday, said he was pleased with the event but expressed some concern that the panel may have not fully given credence to a view that places more emphasis on the historical nature of Obama’s presidency.
“I was very pleased to hear the ironic feel that [the panelists] were able to take in examining the legacy of MLK and its revisions,” Apprey said, noting, though, that he “thinks the panel understated the meaning of this moment, this special moment in our history,” and that he would have liked more discussion about what enabled this event to take place.
Fourth-year College student Michael Horton said he felt similarly, noting that the panelists “did an excellent job bringing up issues people wouldn’t have necessarily talked about.”
That variety in dialogue also was emphasized by Apprey.
“Most importantly, a new conversation has begun, and we ought to continue this conversation,” Apprey said.
Read More
Winsome Earle-Sears talks higher education in first U.Va. event of the campaign
By Ford McCracken | 3 hours agoA Jamaican immigrant and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Earle-Sears is the first female lieutenant governor of Virginia,
U.Va.'s Earth Day Eco-Fair 2025 spotlights sustainability advocacy
By Leigh Bailey | 3 hours agoStudents from Contracted Independent Organizations and University Office of Sustainability leadership programs each shared their unique perspectives about sustainability advocacy on Grounds.
Student Council votes to relocate Hereford orchard and basketball hoop
By Lauren Seeliger | 13 hours agoStudent Council passed a resolution Tuesday to relocate the orchard and basketball hoop of Hereford Residential College due to construction in the surrounding area.
