Commentary—

We Won, But We Can’t Relax

By Marc Morial

There is a tendency in some quarters to see the election of Barack Obama as a magic bullet that will instantly solve all our problems. Some commentators have even suggested that an Obama presidency ushers in a new “postracial” era that lowers the urgency and takes the spotlight off the need for equal opportunity and economic justice for urban and African Americans. I strongly disagree. This may be a time for celebration, but it’s no time for complacency.

While it is true that for the first time in a long time, African Americans and other minorities can feel as though we have a real friend in the White House, we must also understand that the president-elect can only be effective if the same extraordinary coalition of white, black, Hispanic, Asian American, and Native American voters that elected him now works together to support his agenda for change. In my view, the Obama presidency marks the beginning of a new “multiracial” era in governance that empowers and employs more of the growing diversity that is America’s great strength in solving our common problems.

The thing that impressed me the most about the campaign was its ability to bring so many previously disparate parts of America together in common purpose. Candidate Obama liked to say that this election was not so much about him as it was about us. He stressed that change comes from the bottom up, not the other way around. That means that we as citizens and advocates must take an even more active role in governance at all levels. Our voices must continue to be heard from City Hall to the halls of Congress to the White House. I am encouraged that the Obama transition team is putting a high degree of emphasis on building, as Bill Clinton did, an administration that “looks like America.”

But looks are not enough. We still have a lot of work to do. On the one hand, we now have the ultimate successful role model in Barack Obama. On the other hand, we see that fewer than 50 percent of African Americans graduate from high schools in many major American cities. We see a financial crisis with huge numbers of African Americans losing their homes, jobs, and life savings. We see an unemployment rate that’s double that of whites, and wide academic achievement gaps. African American males disproportionately populate our prisons. Taken together, these facts underscore the reality that the first black president does not mean we can now all close up shop and go home.

People like you and organizations like the National Urban League are more important than ever to lifting up our communities and moving this country forward. In the coming weeks, we will explore some of the most difficult challenges facing the emerging Obama administration — from the needs of our children to the growing importance of minority businesses — and suggest ways we can work together to move our empowerment agenda forward. In five weeks, we will have a new president who campaigned on the promise of change. It is now up to us to help him keep that promise.     

(Marc H. Morial is president and CEO of The National Urban League. )