At this artificial media created milestone of the President’s first 100 days I believe it important to understand that the emphasis should be placed on the President’s actions during the first 1,461 days in office as it relates to race. Bold statements from Attorney General Eric Holder’s office are important and necessary in setting the tone for this administration’s ethos and actions regarding race and related issues. However, such statements must be dovetailed with tangible actions and policies.
Without give a full fledged lecture on the process of policy making, let me state that laws and change in America at the federal level happens incrementally and any messianic expectations of Obama in the black community here and abroad should be tempered. While we should continue to hold Obama accountable for his actions we must acknowledge that immediate policy change occurs more rapidly on the state and local level. What does this mean? It means that black people should become politically active on the municipal and state level and hold their respective representatives to the same level of accountability as they do Obama.
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