Four years ago, black Americans mobilized to elect one of their own president of the United States. When asked, the overwhelming majority of black Americans still say they support Barack Obama. But the old enthusiasm has dwindled.
The economic crisis of 2008 hit black America hard, and the recovery since 2009 has largely passed black America by. Black unemployment rates look like something out of the Great Depression: Almost half of young black men cannot find work.
The cool, cerebral Obama does not much comfort or inspire those out of work, black or white. He is not an “I feel your pain” kind of politician.
While nobody doubts that Obama will carry 90% or more of the black vote in November, a lot of people have wondered how high the black turnout will be. If dispirited black Americans stay home in large numbers, Obama’s re-election challenge becomes that much greater. But what could possibly inspire them to the polls?
The answer may have just arrived — in the tragic form of the killing of a teenaged boy, Trayvon Martin.
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com...martin-and-the-backlash-against-the-backlash/
