Chapter VI: The Poor People Obama Left Behind
From the Washington Examiner
Four years after Barack Obama's historic election as president, little seems to have changed for the African-American communities on Chicago's South Side.
From the Washington Examiner
Four years after Barack Obama's historic election as president, little seems to have changed for the African-American communities on Chicago's South Side.
The
lack of change -- or the sense that these neighborhoods are getting worse -- is
eroding the president's standing among African-Americans in his hometown.
In
2011, Chicago suffered the third-highest black jobless
rate among the nation's major metropolitan areas, at 19 percent, according to the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
rate among the nation's major metropolitan areas, at 19 percent, according to the liberal Economic Policy Institute.
Chicago
still lacks enough affordable housing. Not only did the city demolish 25,000
public housing units in the previous decade, it also experienced more than
80,000 foreclosures, mainly in low-income neighborhoods.
Chicago
"black nationalist" Eddie Read contends Obama has never fought for
the black community. "I would not honestly tag Obama as a fighter for
black people, black agenda or black issues," Read told The Washington
Examiner.
After
Obama's election, Read said, "I hoped that it would change."
But
four years later, as he looks around Chicago's neighborhoods, he said things
haven't improved under Obama.
"I
don't see where the quality of life or the quality has changed," he said,
"except that it's worse."
Dr.
Conrad Worrill is an African-American educator, activist and former radio talk
show host on Chicago's African-American-oriented station WVON. He told the
Examiner that Obama was an inspirational speaker who moved people. But in the
end, he became just another Chicago politician.
"His
rise in politics, his trajectory in politics has led him to make adjustments in
his political decision-making. And that's the case with many politicians. So
he's no different from many others in that regard. He's a politician,"
Worrill said.
Cheryl
Johnson and her mother, Hazel, lived in the economically deprived Altgeld
Gardens housing project when young Obama was a community organizer there. Her
late mother also was an organizer at the housing complex and often welcomed
Obama into her kitchen.
"He's
everybody's president," Cheryl Johnson told the Examiner, saying she is
proud she knows him. But has he made a difference? "We, as poor people,
don't feel it and don't see it," she said. Read believes Obama's problem
is that he does not understand the unique needs of Chicago blacks.
"Obama
came through Chicago through Saul Alinsky organizing," he said. "The
Alinsky piece seemed to have had an agenda about what it thought was in the
best interest of black folks, from the white liberal perspective."
Obama
instead allied himself with Chicago's MacArthur Foundation, local housing
nonprofits and real estate developers. Valerie Jarrett and Allison Davis,
Martin Nesbitt and Tony Rezko -- all Obama friends -- were at the epicenter of
that powerful coalition.
Obama's
low-income-housing campaign still resonates among Chicago's poor today. Deborah
Taylor, a public housing tenant in the Kenwood section of Chicago, also told
the Examiner things are as bad as ever for poor tenants.
"The
residents at the end of the day still suffer here," she said. "A lot
of times a lot of people start out idealistically thinking they are
helping," Taylor said.
"I
don't think any of them are in favor of the tenants," she said.
"Everybody's in it for the money. It's all about profit now. So the
residents lose, lose, lose."
D'Anna
Carter, a neighborhood activist in Chicago's Woodlawn section, singled out the
Habitat Co., which was run by Jarrett, now Obama's closest White House adviser.
"They
were never interested in poor people," she told the Examiner. "They
would sell poor people a bill of goods," she said bitterly in an
interview.
Wardell
Lavender has been a Woodlawn resident since 1951. His was the first black
family to move into the neighborhood. He also blames Habitat.
"Habitat
was bad landlords at the time. They didn't care too much about the
blacks," he told the Examiner.
According
to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the enticement to the
poor to buy condos they could not afford caused widespread losses in Chicago.
Foreclosures
fell hard on Chicago's poor residents. The Urban Institute reported in May 2009
that most were displaced or homeless, credit ratings were damaged and violence
increased as empty units remained vacant.
Worrill
said he still supports Obama but adds that the lack of progress in Chicago's
black community is palpable.
"He
has been supported, but the position he's in now, he's in a heck of a
predicament."
Next: Chapter VII: The Myth of Obama as a State Senate Reformer
Back: Chapter V: Obama's Toughest Critics on the Left
Next: Chapter VII: The Myth of Obama as a State Senate Reformer
Back: Chapter V: Obama's Toughest Critics on the Left
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