President Barack Obama marketed himself to the American people as penicillin to the nation’s racial woes. A vote for Obama was a vote for unity! How could you vote against that?
And so, a self-serving slice of the electorate indulged their virtuous exigencies, casting their ballot for what they perceived to be “something bigger.” Obama’s gleeful cry for “hope and change.”
Prior to the Obama presidency, President George W. Bush united Americans as… Americans through 9/11. He kept us safe, and unapologetically defended our common values of freedom and self-governance. But according to our national media, race relations prior to Obama’s presidency were like our healthcare system. Worse than Zimbabwe’s.
How successful was President Obama in mending these supposedly broken bonds? Here’s a comprehensive timeline of all the racial healing in the past eight years.
President Obama’s first headline hobnob with race-in-America dates back to the early days of his presidency. In 2009, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates arrived home to find his front door lock jammed. He opted to force his way in through the back door. Worried neighbors weren’t sure what was happening, and in good faith alerted the police.
Upon arrival, the officers – one of whom was black – asked Gates for ID, to which Gates then infuriatingly exploded, accusing the officers of racial profiling. “This is what it means to be black in America! … Do you even know how many graduate degrees I have! Do you know who you’re dealing with here!? … I’m a professor at Harvard. CAN YOU EVEN SPELL HARVARD?”
The befuddled, browbeaten officer arrested Gates on charges of disorderly conduct for his shrieking tirade.
The newly elected President disregarded the facts, kicking off what would be a long 8 years of poisonous rhetoric aimed at law enforcement. Joining the Cambridge coterie in haranguing the white working-class officer, Obama said: “he acted stupidly.”
Fast forward three years, and the glare of the national spotlight is on Sanford, Florida. In February of 2012, Hispanic-American George Zimmerman – leader of his community’s neighborhood watch – saw a young black man, Trayvon Martin, lurking around his community. Zimmerman called the police, reporting that the man appeared to be on drugs (autopsy confirmed this) and was urinating in front of a house.
After being instructed not to pursue the suspect, Zimmerman hung up. The initial confrontation between the two remains a mystery. However, all the available evidence aligned with Zimmerman’s claim that Martin attacked him, knocking him to the ground. Jumping on top of him, Martin allegedly began beating Zimmerman, pounding his head into the pavement. Zimmerman subsequently reached for his gun, and shot Martin, killing him.
America’s racial-healer-in-chief Barack Obama responded to the incident, saying “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.” Busy acting as the pillars for Obama’s skewed racial narrative, the media failed to ask why exactly the President’s son would be high, lurking around neighborhoods and beating heads onto pavements.
When Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges, riots broke out across the country. Police cars were smashed and stomped on; windows were broken. A random white guy was robbed, the assailants yelling “this is for Trayvon!”
In November 2013, police officers shot and killed 16-year-old black teenager Kimani Gray in Brooklyn, New York. After observing suspicious behavior, the officers approached Gray, and he responded by drawing a firearm, pointing it squarely at the officers. (Not a good idea).
Despite the damning evidence that the officers were fully justified in shooting the suspect, riots ensued. Between 60 and 100 people took to the streets looting shops and smashing windows, allegedly chanting “NYPD, KKK, how many kids did you kill today”. Really all the hallmarks of a post-racial Obama America.
Harry Khachatrian. 