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When one's candidate loses in American politics, it is only good manners to offer best wishes to the winner. And I wish Barack Obama well as the new president of the United States. I hope he gets to govern in a quiet world. And I am proud that America could elect a black president, though I've known this was possible at least since 1996, when Colin Powell might well have beaten a then weak Bill Clinton. So I feel earnest goodwill toward this new administration, but I'm afraid my actual "hopes" for it run to the negative. *snip* I hope...

When Eddie Burns, an unemployed musician, describes what the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama means to him as an African-American, he answers in superlatives: historic, amazing, unbelievable. The future president, Burns proudly declares, "has encouraged people to dream." But as a client of Shepherd's Table, a suburban Washington charity that provides meals and services for the poor, Burns can't imagine that Obama's presidency - hailed around the globe - will change the lives of poor black people like him. Obama, he said, has to handle two overseas wars and a failing economy, and certainly would not have time to help...

Her parents made their way to Chicago in the Great Migration, settling in the Near South Side ghetto then part of the city's Black Belt. Margie Edwards, 78, of Englewood, has vivid memories of growing up during segregation, of Jim Crow laws and the newcomer called King, of marching hand-in-hand with strangers in Selma. So when a newcomer came along 45 years later, she was skeptical. "I said, 'Boy, he don't stand a snowball's chance in hell,' " said Edwards, whose daughter Pamela Frazier is taking Edwards' eight grandchildren and great-grandchildren to Washington for Barack Obama's inauguration as president. "But...

<p>George W. Bush has been singled out as the American president who has done the most for Africa. So where's the recognition, both in the media and the black community, of this worthy achievement?</p> <p>Bill Clinton might have been America's first black president, but it seems he didn't do as much for Africa as Bush has. Bob Geldof, Irish rocker and Africa activist, says the Texas oilman, who is wrapping up his second trip to the continent, "has done more than any other president so far."</p>

Editor's note: The n-word appears in this piece because CNN feels the context in which it is used is pertinent to the story of James "Little Man" Presley. SLEDGE, Mississippi (CNN) -- James Presley stands amid chopped cotton, the thick Mississippi mud caked on his well-worn boots. A smile spreads across his face when he talks about voting for Barack Obama and what that might mean for generations to come. His voice picks up a notch. He holds his head up a bit higher. "There's a heap of pride in voting for a black man," he says. At 78, Presley...

Abandoned by their government, many residents of New Orleans have little optimism about the arrival of Barack Obama in the White House on 20 January Jonny Trask - pictured outside his family's home - is disillusioned by the way he and others have been treated Jonny Trask is black, in his forties, American, and completely indifferent to Barack Obama. "It doesn't make any difference to me," he says referring to the next president. "Or to most of the black people in New Orleans." Trask, a former gang member who has served time both in the military and in prison ("Jail...

PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Republicans and black Democrats in the United States are in near agreement on the moral acceptability of homosexual relations, a Gallup Poll indicates. Only 31 percent of black Democrats said gay relations were morally acceptable while 31 percent of Republicans agreed with that position, Gallup results released Wednesday indicated. Sixty-one percent of non-black Democrats said they found same-sex relations morally acceptable. The fact that black Democrats more closely align with Republicans on this issue is significant, given that blacks overwhelmingly identify themselves as Democrats, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

A small central Alabama county whose mainly black residents gave the president-elect more than 70 per cent of the vote on Election Day has declared the second Monday in November Barack Obama Day. The Perry County Commission voted four to one to observe the holiday. County offices will close and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid holiday. The sponsoring commissioner, Albert Turner junior, said the holiday is intended to highlight the Democratic president-elect's Nov 4 victory as a way to give the county's 12,000 residents, the majority of whom are black, faith that difficult goals can be achieved....

MARION, Ala. – In central Alabama's Perry County, government workers already get a day off for President's Day, Martin Luther King Day, and Veterans Day. In 2009, they'll get one more: "Barack Obama Day." The rural county, which overwhelmingly supported Obama in last month's presidential election, has approved the second Monday in November as "The Barack Obama Day." Commissioners passed a measure that would close county offices for the new annual holiday and its roughly 40 workers will get a paid day off. Sponsoring commissioner Albert Turner Jr. said the holiday is meant to highlight the Democratic president-elect's victory as...

We now know that blacks probably didn’t tip the balance for Proposition 8. Myth busted. However, the fact remains that a strikingly high percentage of blacks said they voted to ban same-sex marriage in California. Why? There was one very telling (and virtually ignored) statistic in CNN’s exit poll data that may shed some light: There were far more black women than black men, and a higher percentage of them said that they voted for the measure than the men. How wide was the gap? According to the exit poll, 70 percent of all blacks said that they voted for...

Some California Republicans are saying they have found a key to expanding their fast-shrinking base, and it lies in the most glaring aspect of the Proposition 8 election results: the minority vote that went overwhelmingly for it. With seven in 10 blacks and 53 percent of Latinos voting in favor of the ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage, Republicans say they are confident that their common interests with minorities on traditional family and social issues can help forge new political alliances. "It shows there are issues the Republican party and minorities can agree on," said Mike Spence, president of the...

Election night was a bittersweet night for me. Like most Americans, and especially as an African American, I found it deeply moving to watch President-elect Barack Obama and his family -- soon to be our nation's first African American first family -- stride onstage for his victory speech. I welcome the positive role models they'll present to black families and the American public at large. But as a black Republican, I was chagrined that the political party I've belonged to for 20 years had just suffered a blistering electoral defeat. And that along the way, it had lost 96 percent...

In a letter addressed to "Dear Community," a high-powered coalition of gay-rights leaders is calling for an end to the scapegoating of African Americans for the passage of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in California. Nine painful, anger-filled and vitriolic days passed before this request for calm appeared, and although the letter is sensible and encouraging, words alone will not undo the damage. Since an election-day exit poll found that 70% of black voters supported Proposition 8, tensions between gays and blacks have exploded on the airwaves, in newspaper columns and on the Internet. The letter, however, notes that...

When comedian Wanda Sykes disclosed during a rally in Las Vegas this week that she had been in a same-sex marriage since October, no one cheered louder than those who face the double indemnity of being black and gay. "You know, I don't really talk about my sexual orientation," said Sykes, 44, who stars in the television series "Adventures of Old Christine." "I didn't feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life." But living life in the spotlight -- as black and gay -- is twice...

Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee of Oakland has been selected to chair the Congressional Black Caucus. The caucus made the announcement at a Capitol Hill press conference Wednesday where Lee accepted the gavel from outgoing Chairwoman Carolyn Kilpatrick. Lee, just elected to her 7th term, said she looked forward to working with President-elect Barack Obama in advancing goals of justice and equality. SNIP

News Black Pro-Lifers’ Joy and Pain Making History: Black Pro-Lifers Hail Historic Moment and Redouble Efforts BY TIM DRAKE Register Senior WriterNovember 16-22, 2008 Issue | Posted 11/11/08 at 8:20 AM   President-elect Barack Obama’s election Nov. 4 was historic in more ways than one. Not only does it represent the first time an African-American has been elected to the White House, but his running mate Joseph Biden’s election represents the first time that a Catholic will occupy the vice presidency. Black Americans feel the historical moment most keenly. Especially black pro-lifers. “It’s an incredibly historic moment for our...

Playing the race card on gay marriage By Jeff Jacoby http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | It has been widely noted that black voters put California's Proposition 8 over the top last week, with nearly 7 out of 10 voting in favor of the constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. As the magnitude of black opposition to same-sex marriage became clear on Election Day, blogger Andrew Sullivan, a prominent gay-marriage champion, reacted bitterly: "Every ethnic group supported marriage equality," he wrote, "except African-Americans, who voted overwhelmingly against extending to gay people the civil rights once denied them."...

Amendement 2 oppresses another minority.Last week, an anti-gay marriage measure passed statewide, garnering a majority of votes in every Florida county but Monroe. The ballot was one of the great paradoxes in American politics: The black community, the most oppressed group in U.S. history, comprised one of the unfriendliest demographics toward gays. C. Stiles S.F. Mahee wanted to flee the state after the vote. Subject(s): Amendement 2, gay marriage banS.F. Mahee worked as the Broward organizer for Florida Red and Blue, which backed the measure. She is also a black lesbian who has urged the African-American community to take a...

Actress Roseanne Barr has lashed out at African-Americans for overwhelmingly supporting California’s Proposition 8. The comedienne accused blacks of being “bigots” and “ignorant” for supporting the ballot initiative, which amends the state constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. On her blog, “Roseanne World,” Barr said that the “70% of black church going californians who voted this cycle voted for prop 8 (sic)” had “misused” their votes, and were inspired by their “immoral” and “hateful” pastors and clergy. “They voted to destroy the constitution that Obama will hopefully uphold against their wishes, by making sure that...

TUSCALOOSA | Don't tell Bill Maher, but the vote among the white electorate in Alabama for president elect Barack Obama was the lowest in the county at only 10 percent. From an analysis by MSNBC: "We took a look at Obama's performance with white voters in all 50 states. In 13 of them, Obama received less than 35% of the white vote. His three lowest performing states: Alabama (10%), Mississippi (11%), and Louisiana (14%). The other 10: GA (23%), SC (26%), TX (26%), OK (29%), AR (30%), UT (31%), AK (32%), WY (32%), ID (33%), and TN (34%). On the...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For most African-Americans, the election of Barack Obama as president was a dream come true that they didn't think they would see in their lifetime, a national poll released Tuesday suggests. Eighty percent of African-Americans questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey said that Obama's election was a dream come true, and 71 percent said they never thought a black candidate for president would get elected in their lifetime. ... The poll also suggests a racial divide among people who thought a black candidate would be elected president in their lifetimes. Fifty-nine percent of white respondents said...

Identity politics in the Democratic Party are already presenting challenges to President-elect Barack Obama, who is under pressure to appoint Hispanics and African-Americans to key posts in his administration. Both groups were crucial to Obama’s victory last week over Republican John McCain. Ninety-six percent of African-American voters cast ballots for Obama, while 67 percent of Hispanic voters. Both are now counting on Obama to appoint Hispanic and African-American politicians to his Cabinet as a way of rewarding their support. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Hispanic who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination but later endorsed Obama, should be secretary...

70% of black church going californians who voted this cycle voted for prop 8. As they overwhelmingly supported America's first chance to elect a person of color and strike a death blow to racism, they also went out of their way to misuse their votes (no doubt at the behest of their immoral and hateful pastors and clergy) to isolate and punish a small minority of citizens, and to deny them basic civil rights...

The strange bedfellow alliance of Catholics, Mormons and evangelical Protestants that slapped a ban on gay marriage in California last week represents the most “ecumenical union since the fall of Rome.” That’s the view of Richard Hecht, an acclaimed scholar in UCSB’s much-acclaimed religious studies department, whose clear-eyed take on the stunning passage of Proposition 8 cuts through the Babel of political scapegoating and speculation swirling around the election’s biggest surprise. “The issue of traditional marriage brought together this wild, very unlikely coalition,” Hecht told me. “You have the Catholics, who can’t stand the evangelical Protestants, who can’t stand the...

African Americans have just entered the no-excuses zone. We finally have one of our own in the White House. With Barack Obama's ascension to the highest office in the United States, most African Americans feel that we have arrived as fully equal citizens. But we need to recognize that with Obama's victory come challenges -- and that many of those challenges will be put to the black community itself. Obama isn't like the leaders who have traditionally spoken for black America. As president, he's unlikely to embrace the confrontational identity politics that have defined black activism for so long. He...

RALEIGH, N.C.--Jubilation, pride and relief permeated pews and pulpits at predominantly black churches across the country on the first Sunday after Barack Obama's election, with congregrants blowing horns, waving American flags and raising their hands to the heavens. "God has vindicated the black folk," the Rev. Shirley Caesar-Williams said as a member of her Raleigh congregation, Mount Calvary Word of Faith Church, brandished a flag and another marched among the pews blowing a ram's horn. "Too long we've been at the bottom of the totem pole, but he has vindicated us, hallelujah," the Grammy-winning gospel singer cried. "I don't know...

Looks like that "big tent" the Dems have just ain't big enough...oh, the irony :). A bitterly ironic battle has erupted in California in the days since Obama was elected the first black president in American history, a victory many African-Americans are hoping signals an end to generations of repression. Proposition 8, banning the right of same-sex couples to wed, passed by more than three percentage points in the reliably Democratic state. Much of that margin came from a flood of as many as 500,000 new black voters turning out to cast their ballots for Obama. According to various polls,...

News comes today that Loui Luieye Farrakhan, the admitted Jew hater, sees Barak Obama as the "New Beginning". This isn't surprising, considering that they are neighbors and Barak was with Farrakhan during the Million Man March. What is surprising is that Farrakhan said this: Farrakhan painted many McCain voters as older whites living below the Mason-Dixon line, and said it pains those people to see a black person in power. He urged the crowd to reach out to people who may not like seeing blacks succeed, and help them change their views. I personally don't think that McCain voters think...

One of the many holes in the progressive coalition that brought President-elect Barack Obama to power is making itself known in California. According to the Sacramento Bee: ...an overwhelming number—70 percent—of black voters in California...voted for Proposition 8 and helped secure its passage, according to exit polling conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. African Americans, energized by Barack Obama's presidential bid, boosted their numbers at the polls this year to 10 percent of the state's electorate, up from 6 percent in 2004. "The Obama people were thrilled to turn out high percentages of African Americans, but (Proposition 8)...

For Trebor Healey, a 46-year-old gay man from Glendora, Tuesday's election was bittersweet. He was thrilled that the nation elected its first African American president. But he was disappointed that black voters, traditionally among the most reliably liberal in the state, voted overwhelmingly to ban same-sex marriage.

Cheryl Weston once attended a wedding ceremony for gay friends, but on Election Day, she voted for a constitutional amendment to declare marriage in California as only between a man and a woman. "It was called a holy union, but I don't know how holy it was," said Weston, a Sacramento barber. Weston, 44, is one of an overwhelming number – 70 percent – of black voters in California who voted for Proposition 8 and helped secure its passage, according to exit polling conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. African Americans, energized by Barack Obama's presidential bid, boosted...

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 6 -- Any notion that Tuesday's election represented a liberal juggernaut must overcome a detail from the voting booths of California: The same voters who turned out strongest for Barack Obama also drove a stake through the heart of same-sex marriage. Seven in 10 African Americans who went to the polls voted yes on Proposition 8, the ballot measure overruling a state Supreme Court judgment that legalized same-sex marriage and brought 18,000 gay and lesbian couples to Golden State courthouses in the past six months. Similar measures passed easily in Florida and Arizona. It was closer in...

Black voters turned out in force and voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. General Colin Powell endorsed him. An emotional Condoleezza Rice spoke Wednesday of how excited she was to see this historic event. Some are pointing to this as black racism. That's nonsense, and here's why.We're all aware of the history of race relations in this country. Even those of us who under no circumstances would have voted for Obama can at least breath a sigh of relief: Finally, race is no longer a barrier to the pinnacle of national and world leadership. As a bonus, we can now look...

Californians went to the polls today on the divisive and deeply emotional issue of same-sex marriage, with early exit poll data showing the state's voters closely divided along lines of religion and political affiliation. With the polls still open, it is too early to project the outcome, which would amend the California Constitution to ban gay marriage. But preliminary data showed that Democrats and independents were tending to vote against Proposition 8, while Republicans were in favor of the measure.

Los Angeles, CA (AP) -- California's black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama, provided key support for a state ban on same-sex marriage. Christian, married and older voters also helped give the measure the winning edge, according to exit polls for The Associated Press. Proposition 8 overturns a May California Supreme Court decision legalizing gay nuptials and rewrites the state constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Exit poll data showed seven in 10 black voters and more than half of Latino voters backed the ballot initiative, while whites...

History will record this as the night the souls of black folk, living and dead, wept – and laughed, screamed and danced – releasing 400 years of pent up emotion. They were the souls of those whose bodies littered the bottom of the Atlantic, whose families were torn asunder, whose names were erased. They were those who knew the terror of being set upon by men with clubs, of being trapped in a torched house, of dangling at the end of a rough rope. They were the souls of those who knew the humiliation of another person’s spit trailing down...

WAKE FOREST, N.C. --Barack Obama hardly marched across the South like Sherman. But he certainly made some inroads. The Illinois Democrat failed to win a majority of white votes in any Southern state, and exit polls indicate that a deeper racial divide may persist here than in other regions. But he won Florida. You could argue that Florida - with its snowbirds and ice hockey franchises - is not really "Southern," but that doesn't change the fact that a Northern, liberal Democrat hasn't taken the state since FDR. And it's hard to overstate the symbolic importance of Obama's comfortable victory...

I am in a predominantly GOP area...early voters are out in droves and most are blacks. Schools here are on a two hour delay so teachers can vote... But they get off work by three anyway..so why a delay? I hate politics.

Lula Cooper expects the tears to flow if Barack Obama becomes the first black president. But she's not breaking out the tissues just yet. "I cried when I marked my ballot for him. We've had such an incredible journey to this point," said the former civil rights activist, her voice quavering. "I think he's going to win, but I really am very, very cautious."

Washington - On Martin Luther King Avenue, in the Anacostia neighbourhood of the nation's capital, the mood before Tuesday's US presidential elections is upbeat and confident. National polls show the black neighbourhood's favourite, Democrat Barack Obama, 47, ahead over Republican John McCain, 72. And while African Americans there say an Obama presidency would be the ultimate "melting pot" image, they dismiss the suggestion there would be anger, or even riots, if somehow McCain were to win. "Countrywide raced riots? Why? I don't see it," says Charles Crawford, 50, an out-of-work electrician. "All the things we've gone through in this country...

They have been sprouting across the front lawns of western Pennsylvania, just enough of them among the Hallowe’en ghouls and zombie decorations to give John McCain the ghost of a chance. The signs read, “Another Democrat for McCain”. They are to be found at the homes of women like Eileen Kettelberg, a factory worker who has been a Democrat all her life but will not vote for Barack Obama because she believes he insulted Hillary Clinton – and, by extension, all Democratic women – by failing to pick her as his running mate. There is another one outside Joyce Wiczorek’s...

It's for the good of the country and for those who're bitter for a reason and armed because they're scared. As a lifelong Caucasian, I am beginning to think the time has finally come to take the right to vote away from white people, at least until we come to our senses. Seriously, I just don't think we can be trusted to exercise it responsibly anymore. p I give you Exhibit A: The last eight years. In 2000, Bush-Cheney stole the election, got us attacked, and then got us into two no-exit wars. Four years later, white people reelected them....

A national voter-protection organization has scheduled a press conference for 10 a.m. today to discuss its lawsuit against Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and other top Virginia election officials on behalf of the Virginia State Conference NAACP. The organization is accusing Virginia of an unconstitutional allocation of polling-place resources in Richmond and several other urban areas. Judith Browne-Dianis, co-director of the Washington-based Advancement Project, cited a survey by the organization that determined that minority precincts have too few voting machines and election officials. "Virginians are going to turn out in large numbers, and election officials must act quickly to make sure...

The Obama campaign is accusing Republicans of trying to disenfranchise black voters in Detroit and other cities by using home foreclosure lists to turn them away from polls on Election Day. The charges were initially raised by Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters of the Congressional Black Caucus, prompting Obama and the Democratic National Committee to sue the Michigan GOP. The federal suit, which campaign lawyers acknowledge is based solely on unconfirmed reports and rumors, also alleges that Ohio Republicans and the Republican National Committee also have schemed to challenge voters who have lost their homes in the battleground state. Republican officials...

The Detroit Branch NAACP will "Value the Voter" with direct action on Election Day. The direct action will consist of staging Challengers at the polls. They will use monitors including the Nation of Islam to patrol for instances of voter intimidation and suppression. Attorneys will be onsite at the Detroit Branch and at six different ...

Obama needs to be commended for his accomplishments but I need to explain why I will not be voting for him.. Many of my friends process their identity through their blackness. I process my identity through Christ. Being a Christian (a Christ follower) means He leads I follow. I can’t dictate the terms He does because He is the leader. I can’t vote black because I am black, I have to vote Christian because that’s who I am. Christian first, black second. Neither should anyone from the other ethnic groups vote because of ethnicity. 200 years from now I won’t...

“The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, estimates that Barack Obama could receive 94 percent of the black vote. I find being one of the six percent who isn't voting for him liberating, however. Freed from the tyranny of basing my worldview entirely on my skin color, I'm allowed to be the unique individual that God made me.”

he prospect that Barack Obama is primed to be the nation's first black president has black voters giddy. But the better the news gets for Mr. Obama, with bigger leads in polls the closer Election Day draws, the more they fear it's too good to be true. It's especially so in the South, where a history of oppression, voter suppression and near electoral victories make blacks more skeptical than most. "Every day I watch the polls and get excited because I know Barack Obama is going to win the whole thing," said Corgins Banner, a 32-year-old Charlotte man who works...

As a man who has fathered a son whose skin is darker than the average African American, and has mild special needs on top that, I am guided in this election by more than just economics, security, and the right of all innocent human beings to life. This election I am burdened deeply by the manipulation of race, the impact of social justice, and the absolute disparity and reproach that an Obama administration would have in store for the African American families of this nation. Understanding this to be the case:To Black Obama supporters across America, The election of 2008...

I've already written about how ludicrously unbalanced CNN's election coverage has been, and others have examined CNN's blatant misrepresentation of a National Review quote during its Palin interview. But CNN isn't merely biased, it is also incompetent. I just saw this story on CNN's political ticker that celebrated a decision by a supposedly lifelong black Republican, Aaron Wheeler, to drive 600 miles to Columbus, Ohio to vote for Barack Obama: "My family has been Republican for three generations," he said, but "I knew I had to change and vote Democrat in the first time almost ever." Wheeler said he was...