"My President Was Black" Reflection
Just like that, eight years of a charismatic, kind, and a way-too-good for us president are over. The election of the first black president was a monumental step for the black community, but it was not the solution to all injustices this community still faces. In Ta-Nehisi’s article, “My President Was Black,” the author interviews President Obama over several years during his presidency. Although Obama’s outlook on issues were consistently optimistic, Ta-Nehisi would always state his opinions with harsh realities. A main theme/argument was prominent throughout the article, “There are no clean victories for black people, nor, perhaps, for any people.”
This article’s purpose was to reflect on Obama’s presidency, and the importance of having a black president, and that although it is a huge step does not mean it’s a complete victory, alluding to the backlash of Republican’s giving us Trump. “Obama had inscribed an Arabic saying on his wedding ring, then stopped wearing the ring, in observance of Ramadan…the badge-holders [white citizens in America] fumed. They wanted their country back” (“My President Was Black”). This idea that Obama’s presidency wasn’t a complete victory also refers to his presidency not completely solving all the inequality the black community still faces today. An example of these inequalities is when the author describes the costs of a college degree for a white person versus the cost for a black person, “African Americans tend to carry more student debt four years after graduation and suffer from a higher default rate on their loans” (“My President Was Black”).
The audience that Coates is projecting to every black American citizen, and anyone that doesn’t understand the impact of Obama’s presidency on this community. The organization of this article helps the article be so powerful. The chapters between the first and last take place throughout Obama’s presidency, the whole eight-year term. The introduction to Coates’ article begins by describing the Obama’s farewell event with lack of the author’s opinion, then the conclusion is completely about how the end of Obama’s presidency affected the author. I think this conclusion is what this paper developed, the author’s feelings towards Obama. This article is a personal narrative through interviews with Obama, and stating the author’s opinions of Obama and societal issues. The reason Coates’ probably does this to show how he originally did not like Obama and how through getting to know him and becoming more knowledgeable about social events, he began to really like Obama. I think this personal perspective is just important to help readers understand who Obama is as a person but to still present the issues/reality Coates wants the readers to know about.
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Work Cited
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “My President Was Black.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 26 June 2018, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/01/my-president-was-black/508793/.