Ward 8 Residents reflect on Obama’s Easter visit (Lauren E. Bohn & Chika Oduah/MNS)
WASHINGTON –J, an 18-year-old resident of Anacostia, used the pages of Monday’s Washington Post as an impromptu coaster at a barber shop on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue. The pages lay scattered on a torn blue seat as she watched her friend, Sweetz, get her weekly cut.
Their neighborhood has held prime real estate on the paper’s front page recently. Eight days ago, a shooting left four young people dead and five wounded. This week the first family celebrated Easter at Allen Chapel AME church.
Ward 8 in Southeast is riddled with poverty, rattled by gun violence and crippled by an unemployment rate hovering around 30 percent.
But President Barack Obama’s Sunday visit is still the talk of the town.
“His coming down here shows us he hasn’t forgotten about us,” said the Rev. Michael E. Bell Sr. of Allen Chapel.
When asked if Obama is neglecting African-Americans, J giggled, pushing back wisps of purple and pink hair off her forehead. “Being the president is like having a lot of kids,” she said. “You can’t just focus on one kid – the black community – you’ve got to spend time with everyone.”
In what has largely been received as yet another gesture to African-Americans, Obama sat down Tuesday with about 20 black religious leaders.
The president has come under recent scrutiny from the Black Congressional Caucus and television personality and commentator Tavis Smiley for not reaching out to his black American constituents. African-Americans have been hurt substantially, if not two-fold, by the economic downturn.
But White House spokesman Corey Ealons assured meeting was not about politics. “It is about connecting with key faith leaders on the challenges impacting our nation,” he said.
In an open letter to the media, the black faith leaders praised Obama and called for those to stand behind him. “President Obama has pursued policies that are crucial for our communities and the nation as a whole, and we cannot afford to lose courage and fortitude at this juncture,” the letter reads.
Hilary Shelton, the director of NAACP Washington Bureau , shares the sentiment. He says it is crucial for Obama to recognize the various communities of faith.
“We know that the religious community has been able to meet the needs of the people, especially in the African-American community where the federal government has fallen short,” Shelton said. That’s why Shelton said the needs of black Americans call for a unique approach.
“One size does not fit all,” he said, suggesting incentives for small businesses to hire and offer apprenticeships to train for job skills, especially job skills in the growing green industry. Such skills would make blacks more competitive in the job market.
The NAACP and several other organizations are aligning with the administration to advocate for African-Americans. Two months ago, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, National Urban League President Marc Morial and the Rev. Al Sharpton met Obama at the White House to discuss economic opportunities for African-Americans.
Smiley later lambasted the leaders for not carving out a “black agenda” and held a forum last month in Chicago where he and others expressed concerns that Obama wasn’t doing enough for blacks.
“The bottom line is the president needs to take issues of black America more seriously because black folks are catching hell,” Smiley said after the forum.
But despite Smiley’s plea to put Obama’s feet to the fire, castigation has not given way to feelings of neglect.
“People are hurting, but they’re standing by Obama,” said Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League.
David Bositis, a pollster at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a research and public policy institution that focuses on black issues, said Obama’s approval rating among black voters couldn’t be any higher.
Citing health care reform as an overlooked victory for the demographic, Bositis argued that Obama runs “no risk whatsoever of losing black voters.”
“Obama shouldn’t feel indebted to African-Americans because he is black,” noted Lorenzo Morris, former chair of the political science department at Howard University.
Morris believes blacks are holding the administration accountable. “There is a limited time when people will be patient,” he said.
Just five miles from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., teenagers wear red, white, and blue lanyards reading “44th President” and walk by a mural with his portrait on the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr Ave and Mellon Street.
“He’s not just our president, he’s everybody’s president,” said the Rev. Bell. “And we’re standing by him.”