8BB AN INDEPENDENT SUPPLEMENT BY MIA MEDIA & COMMUNICATIONS GROUP TO THE SUN SENTINEL FRIDAY , FEBRUARY 10 , 2017
By : Christopher Norwood , J . D .
So o�en African-American success comes at the expense of leaving our community intellectually , philosophically and spa�ally . Michelle Robinson ( later known as Mrs . Obama ) struggled with this reality as a Princeton student . She wrote her thesis on the “ Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community ”. She researched how comfortable Princeton ' s Black Alumni were with their race prior , during and a�er their enrollment at Princeton . Michelle was disappointed with her findings , they simply did not support her hope that the Black alumni would s�ll iden�fy with the African American community . She grappled with this as she moved further away from her Southside Chicago roots to a�end Law School at Harvard . Soon therea�er she embraced being both “ Black and Brilliant ”, according to her Law Professor Charles Ogletree , who taught both Barack and Michelle .
Michelle ' s want to ' stay real ' while pursuing her dreams is a decision that many Black Professionals know so well . We want to represent the neighborhoods we grew up in , or where our parents grew up in . We want to stay connected to their aspira�ons whether we a�end Miami Dade College , Stanford , Hampton or Yale . When we graduate we want to find economic success while being encouraged by our employers to be community oriented .
Barack and Michelle did just that . In fact , the Obama Legacy of Black Excellence is etched in the American lexicon , a symbol of the Black Family Reconstructed . They are an example of both “ Black & Brilliant ”. It shows in their personal example because they never broke the promise of their forefathers . Although they live in the White House they s�ll speak the language of Blackness and have not disconnected from
Brilliant and Black : The Obama Legacy
their community . Recently at a White House celebra�on , Usher Raymond performed James Brown ' s classic “ Say it Loud , I ' m Black and I ' m Proud ”. The Obama ' s proudly sang along “ I ' m Black and I ' m Proud ”. Who would have thought the President of the United States would be singing that song in 2016 in the White House , when James Brown & Pee Wee Lewis wrote the song in 1968 ?
Barack Obama ' s commitment to Black Excellence was expressed through their Policy Advocacy , which can ' t be separated from his personal story in educa�on and that of his parents . No different than our own children ' s educa�on is the result of
our own educa�onal experiences . Obama himself received a global educa�on as a six year-old in Jakarta , Indonesia . He a�ended Indonesian language schools supplemented by English language homeschooling by his mother who was a PhD . in Anthropology . Barack Obama was a two-�me Ivy Leaguer having a�ended Columbia and Harvard for Law School . In fact , he was a 2nd genera�on Harvard man , the first was Barack Obama , Sr . Michelle Obama was also raised within Black Excellence . She and her brother a�ended the best schools in Chicago and then both a�ended Princeton University . Michelle went on to Harvard University for Law School and her brother to Northwestern Business School .
Obama placed a high value on
Educa�on Policy , eight years in the White House yielded enormous gains in Public Educa�on . Obama ' s hallmark was the Race to the Top grant program that leveraged the the carrot of Federal dollars to encourage major shi�s of state and local ed reform . Obama supported charter schools as well , he promised in 2008 to double the Federal Charter School Program and he delivered . He championed these policies that lessened the Opportunity Gap in our country . Our na�on ' s high school gradua�on rates have reached a record 83 percent , con�nuing a steady increase that shows improvement across all racial and ethnic groups . The gradua�on rate for
African-Americans is 73 %, s�ll lower than our white counterparts , but we have been closing that gap . In fact , we ' ve exceeding the na�onal rate of improvement by making yearly gains of 1.3 percent since 2011 . Educa�on should lead to employment , and it has . Obama began his Presidency with an African American unemployment rate of over 15 %, now it ' s almost half that .
Obama is not only the 1st Black President , he is the 1st Internet President . In 2008 , during the Democra�c primary versus Hillary Clinton , Obama did laps around her internet presence . Obama was the only candidate who truly leveraged the web . In the General elec�on , nearly four �mes as many people watched official Obama ampaign YouTube videos as did
John McCain ( about 96 million to 25 million ). On Facebook , Obama had 2.4 million " friends ," versus McCain ' s 623,000 . Obama was the first president to master mass communica�on via the internet , and he cbrought all of America with him . Its no surprise that Obama as President invested billions in broadband service , especially in schools and libraries . The FCC ' s Na�onal Broadband Plan , set a goal of 100 % access by 2020 . Today , only 6 % of Americans don ' t have access to high speed internet .
Obama has also had his disappointments , some truly have hit home in Chicago . The violence inflicted upon Young Black Males is of epidemic propor�ons around America ' s ci�es : Miami , Newark , Bal�more , St . Louis , New Orleans and even their hometown of Chicago led the na�on with 768 murders in 2016 . These kids with guns don ' t care that the real life ' Huxtables '
Yes we can . Yes we did !
-Barack H . Obama occupied the White House . These kids were unaffected by Black Excellence that was on full display almost everyday for 8 years . The Leader of the Free World could not stop this epidemic in his own hometown which he loves . So , we s�ll have a long way to go to save our youth in poverty and we all need to be engaged in this fight . We can ' t let our success separate us from those that need us the most , their success is our success as well .
Let ' s be honest , there is no Trump Presidency without Obama . It was Black Excellence that created and nurtured the ac�vism of an America that resented a successful Black Family living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave . For this reason , we must con�nue our vigilance to showcase Black Excellence and provide examples of our Success in Business , Healthcare , Educa�on and Technology . The Obama Presidency has ended but Black Excellence has not .