Have "race relations" gotten worse, or more publicized, since Obama?

[Blue3]

Have "race relations" (for lack of a better term) gotten worse, or more publicized, since Obama?

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Worse, due to rash of police violance. But, on the bright side, concerning voting rights, with a black president, he created a generation of new voters, that support Dems for elected office, that last for a generation. As Clinton looks to solidify Dems grip on WH.

But, police violence has shot up.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'd say more publicized.

Obama's presidency certainly has riled up the racists, but I don't think it has caused anyone who wasn't racist to become so. Police brutality and even cold-blooded murder are sadly nothing new, but the recent string of scandals has helped bring the issue to the spotlight. We might actually see a lot of progress on my issue at the local level. Maybe I'm too naively optimistic, but I just can't see America going backwards on this front.

[Zioneer]

More publicized, definitely. Obama has done nothing to stir anyone up in terms of race besides simply existing, but the news is much more eager to cover race-related violence, which is better than covering it up. People actually want to do something about it now. Police have become more violent with the Patriot Act encouraging police state behavior though.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think the ubiquitisation of smartphones and social media is actually more important. Before people could sit in comfy silence in the White suburbs, in blissful ignorance of the racial tensions strangling the country. Now, it's pretty hard to avoid.

[tmthforu94]

Both

[GLPman]

More publicized, which has contributed to the deterioration of race relations in some - but not all - contexts.

[pbrower2a]

More exposure.

Ferguson, Missouri exemplifies a political culture that saw blacks as pariahs. It's only a matter of time before such leads to a bungled tragedy.

[Penelope]

Race relations have gotten worse since Obama, but Obama himself has little to do with it. It is mostly a result of the heightened exposure of racist police abuses, which is itself largely due to a combination of mainstream social media and the 24-hour news cycle.

[publicunofficial]

I think the ubiquitisation of smartphones and social media is actually more important. Before people could sit in comfy silence in the White suburbs, in blissful ignorance of the racial tensions strangling the country. Now, it's pretty hard to avoid.

This.

[TNF]

I don't know if they've gotten worse. They've never really been great, and the Great Recession has made things worse because it's had a disproportionate effect in black America. Combine that with four decades now of more or less open racism on the part of the American ruling class (be it the drive to end busing in the 1970s, the war on drugs/war on crime in the 1980s, or ending 'welfare as we know it' in the 1990s) and you get a very volatile environment that leads to the kind of uprisings we've seen in Ferguson and Baltimore over the past year or so.

The public is perhaps more aware of it because of social media and because we have a black President (which is supposed to mean we live in a 'post-racial' society according to the media), I'd say. Things have probably not been this bad for black people in America since the particularly bad race relations of the late 19th - early 20th century (1890-1930). We are more segregated than we were before the civil rights struggles of the 1950s-60s, blacks continue to not make anywhere near what whites make, and the levers of the economy remain in the hands of a predominately white capitalist class with an interest in only making surface modifications to a system of exploitation and oppression that increasingly views black Americans as a surplus population in need of either incarceration or elimination.

[dead0man]

Things have probably not been this bad for black people in America since the particularly bad race relations of the late 19th - early 20th century (1890-1930). We are more segregated than we were before the civil rights struggles of the 1950s-60s,

Neither of those things is even close to being true.

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Both, although I don't think it's Obama's fault.  (normal?)

[pbrower2a]

White people are beginning to get disgusted with the bad treatment of black people by law enforcement.

Police agencies are in need of major reforms. Police need an honor code -- do not lie, cheat, or steal, and do not tolerate those among yourselves who lie, cheat, or steal -- because bad cops can no longer get away with cruel or corrupt behavior.

Both, although I don't think it's Obama's fault.  (normal?)

The President has scrupulously avoided interference in local matters except in the few egregious cases that lead to civil unrest. Such has been the norm for Presidents.

[DavidB.]

I'd say more publicized.

Obama's presidency certainly has riled up the racists, but I don't think it has caused anyone who wasn't racist to become so. Police brutality and even cold-blooded murder are sadly nothing new, but the recent string of scandals has helped bring the issue to the spotlight. We might actually see a lot of progress on my issue at the local level. Maybe I'm too naively optimistic, but I just can't see America going backwards on this front.

Well, Europe did, so...

How?

[DemPGH]

More publicized, definitely. Race relations were a theme, for one thing, in 2008, and his election was considered a watershed moment. I also think that since there exist so many avenues now for media exposure the chances that the issue/problem is in the spotlight have dramatically increased. I don't think Obama being elected has changed a single thing one way or the other, though.

Obama's presidency certainly has riled up the racists, but I don't think it has caused anyone who wasn't racist to become so. Police brutality and even cold-blooded murder are sadly nothing new. . .

Yep.

[Republican Michigander]

More Publicized. I think Obama's a horrible president overall, but on the race stuff he gets more blame than deserved for things outside of his control.

Beyond that, race relations fluctuate largely based on location. Some areas are better than their reputation. Some live up to their reputation. Some are worse than their reputation.

Overall, there are problems on both sides.  I think the worst offenders are white academics and the Tim Wise types that put the races against each other, but that's my opinion.

[pbrower2a]

The most obvious issue is on local use of deadly force by the police. That is mostly a local matter. Some police forces are reasonably good, and one rarely hears of them. Some are horrible.

How good is the local training? Not being a cop, I can offer no expertise on how to better train police to better deal with violent persons under arrest.

Add to that, do local leaders (especially educators) do a good job of telling youth to just take the arrest without resisting? Attack a cop -- and die. Such is the same reality whether in Fargo -- or Ferguson.   

[CatoMinor]

The latter. Police being awful has nothing to do with the president.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

The latter. Police being awful has nothing to do with the president.

^^^

If anything, I'd argue that race relations get better and better every year. This is a lot like the disparity between actual crime rates and the public perception of crime.

[ElectionsGuy]

The latter. Police being awful has nothing to do with the president.

^^^

If anything, I'd argue that race relations get better and better every year. This is a lot like the disparity between actual crime rates and the public perception of crime.

Yes

[Famous Mortimer]

Crime rates going down don't mean race relations have gotten better.

[daverep]

The issues we're seeing today have always been there (remember Rodney King? The Watts Riots?), they've just gotten harder to ignore with the advent of smart phones and YouTube.

A lot of it has simply been a dialog that mainstream society hasn't had to have on a wide scale. It was easy to blame previous cases as "thugs" that were "overreacting to one isolated incident" but when it turns out that these issues are widespread, to all corners of the country, people have to take notice and start having that dialog.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Crime rates going down don't mean race relations have gotten better.

Read my post again.

[Horus]

More publicized. I'd also argue there's more and more integration every year, more and more neighborhoods and streets with people of different backgrounds living next door to one another. More interaction leads to an increased interest in race relations. Here in Atlanta, it's much harder for upper middle class white people to go about their day and only see/associate with other white people than it was 10 years ago.