African Americans

On 20. January 2009 Barrack Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. Obama was also the first non-white male to be sworn in as President. But does Obama’s presidency really change anything for African Americans? 

Since the first African Americans came to America as slaves in 1619 they have always been a minority that has struggled. They have a higher dropout rate from high school, they make on average less than other groups, and they have a greater chance of going to prison. In 2003 791,600 black men were in prison and 603,032 enrolled in college. In 1980, there were 143,000 black men in prison and 463,700 enrolled in college. What we can read off these numbers is that conditions for black men have become worse during the last decade. Other surveys also indicate similar problems regarding salary, spending power and housing. Since these trend has been going on since the beginning of the 1980’s I think Obama is going to have a hard time to make things right since it’s not only black men that are struggling, but the whole black population as one.