Huffington Magazine Issue 59 | Page 47

AP PHOTO/PATRICK SEMANSKY ‘STILL NOT FREE’ aren’t living in the colorblind, post-racial society we hoped a black president might usher in, not when success is so split along color lines. “We have famous names of outstanding achievement,” the Rev. Jesse Jackson told me. “We have HUFFINGTON 07.28.13 LeBron. We have Jay Z. We have Barack Obama. But that is not a random sample. What matters is the undercurrent, and it’s pulling our people down.” This is a teaching moment in American life, a teaching summer. The country, including the president himself, is talking about race again. It’s our oldest and deepest argument, a conversa- Poverty, joblessness and incarceration have all increased in Cummings’ Baltimore district since the start of the recession.