A Black Man in the White House

Book excerpt: America's racial fault lines run uninterrupted from the days of slavery, to those of lynchings, separate water fountains, and the contemporary Jim Crow of voter suppression, gerrymandered voting districts, and the attempt to nullify the presidency of America's first Black chief executive.¿In this book Cornell Belcher, award-winning pollster who twice served on President Barack Obama's presidential election team, presents stunning new research that illuminates just how deep and jagged these racial fault lines continue to be. The election of the nation's first Black president does not mean that we live in a post-racial society; it means only that America's demographics have changed to the point that a minority can be elected to the country's highest office.¿The panicked response of the waning white majority to what they perceive as the catastrophe of a Black president can be heard in every cry to "take back our country." This panic has resulted in the elevation of an overt and unapologetic racist as the nominee of one of America's major political parties.¿Let's be clear, as Belcher points out: there isn't any going back. America's changing population and the continued globalization of our marketplaces won't allow it. In order to compete and win the future, America must let go of the historic tribal pecking order and a system gamed to favor the old ruling white elite. ¿To paraphrase DuBois, "The problem of the twenty-first century remains the color line."