Redefining Black Power

January 23, 2012
Few were more galvanized by the election of Obama than African Americans. But four years after the first black president moved into the Oval Office, the excitement has been supplemented by the sober realization that no single individual can tackle the major civil rights challenges that remain. BBC journalist Griffith interviews activists, scholars, and others, including Obama's former Green Jobs Advisor Van Jones, to delve into the psyche of African Americans during the Obama years. This slim volume packs a punch as it unpacks uncomfortable truths, and the provocative voices here do not mince words. Some, like Ohio State University law professor Michelle Alexander, fault Obama for not doing more for blacks, going so far as to declare that "there really is no point in putting black and brown faces in positions of power if they aren't actually going to make much of a difference." But others say African Americans slipped into the trap of seeing Obama as a "saviour" and failed to understand that the president is head of state, not the leader of a new civil rights movement. Consequently, according to Jones, expecting Obama to "fix black America" is a mistake; if anyone is going to do that, it will be some person or group outside the political realm. Operating as he does within the constraints of Washington, the president's greatest triumph is perhaps more psychological, as Obama, his wife, and daughters have provided a much needed emotional boost for blacks as the country's First Family.

January 15, 2012
Anthology of interviews with notable black scholars, focused on the prospects for social justice in the age of Obama. The book is a companion volume to the Pacifica Radio Archives, which has long documented "voices from the black freedom movement." Journalist Griffith, who has been researching and presenting this material on BBC since 2007, describes the archive as containing "stories of African American struggle and triumph...for those who wish to listen and learn from the people who defined a movement," including Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, James Baldwin and Martin Luther King Jr. Here she presents seven interviews with community organizers, legal scholars, academics and activists, attempting to capture a moment in which Obama's presidency arguably obscures ongoing racial inequities, exacerbated by a weak economy and continued discrimination by law enforcement. Griffith provides historical context in her conversation with Dr. Vincent Harding, a theologian best known for co-authoring Dr. King's famous antiwar speech of 1967; Harding observes that the civil-rights movement was more accurately concerned with "the expansion and deepening of democracy in America." Legal scholar Michelle Alexander offers disturbing thoughts regarding policies of mass incarceration and the "War on Drugs" that visit disproportionate (and hypocritical) harm on black communities. Dr. Julianne Malveaux probes the racial aspects of the ongoing recession, grimly noting that "[Obama's] employment legislation is just pathetic, frankly...they tiptoed around issues of black unemployment." Ramona Africa, one of two survivors of the notorious 1985 bombing of the radical MOVE compound in Philadelphia, provides a unique perspective on police brutality toward African-Americans. Other notable participants include Temple University journalism professor Linn Washington Jr. and one-time Obama appointee Van Jones. Griffith concludes by wondering if progressives have been "lulled into a satisfied slumber" by Obama's election, and whether Dr. King's ambitions have been betrayed by this complacency. Multifaceted discussions regarding the challenges faced by African-Americans during the Obama presidency.

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February 1, 2012
International broadcast journalist Griffith draws on the archives of radio interviews with black intellectuals to offer a perspective on how the election of the nation's first black president has changed notions of black power and ideas of a multicultural democracy. Scholar Vincent Harding, an associate of Martin Luther King Jr., expands on notions of true democracy beyond the legal rights won by the civil rights movement. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow (2012), explores the impact of mass incarceration of minorities in the light of social-justice policies of the Obama administration. Julianne Malveaux analyzes the impact of the nation's recession and economic policies on racial minorities. Ramona Africa ponders the potential narcotizing effect of having elected the first black president on continued anger at racial injustice, while Esther Armah examines the powerful emotional salve of seeing three generations of African Americans making a home for themselves in the White House. Griffith provides context for each excerpted interview, adding to the texture of the analysis of changing perspectives on contemporary black power.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)