In his controversial June 2007 Hampton Roads speech, then-Sen. Barack Obama pledged to remove a metaphorical bullet from a wounded African-American community.
“We are all God’s children and we can all unite to work together to make sure the vulnerable, the aged, the sick and our children are cared for in this country,” he declared.
“We can take the bullet out if we work together as a team,” he announced in an accent tuned for his audience of African-American ministers in Virginia.
Since Obama made that speech, he has served almost four years in the White House, and African-Americans’ median wealth has crashed, their wages have flat lined, their unemployment has spiked, and their political power has waned.
The metaphorical bullet wound has turned septic.
Obama used his speech to call for stronger African-American families, saying, “If we want to stop the cycle of poverty, we must start with our families.”
But the percentage of adult African-Americans in poverty rose from 19.8 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2010, according to the Census Bureau. The percentage of African-American children in poverty rose from 34.5 percent to 39.1 percent in 2010. African-Americans’ formal unemployment rate jumped from 9 percent in June 2007 to 14.5 percent this August.
“We are all God’s children and we can all unite to work together to make sure the vulnerable, the aged, the sick and our children are cared for in this country,” he declared.
“We can take the bullet out if we work together as a team,” he announced in an accent tuned for his audience of African-American ministers in Virginia.
Since Obama made that speech, he has served almost four years in the White House, and African-Americans’ median wealth has crashed, their wages have flat lined, their unemployment has spiked, and their political power has waned.
The metaphorical bullet wound has turned septic.
Obama used his speech to call for stronger African-American families, saying, “If we want to stop the cycle of poverty, we must start with our families.”
But the percentage of adult African-Americans in poverty rose from 19.8 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2010, according to the Census Bureau. The percentage of African-American children in poverty rose from 34.5 percent to 39.1 percent in 2010. African-Americans’ formal unemployment rate jumped from 9 percent in June 2007 to 14.5 percent this August.
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