A number of academics speaking over the weekend at Tufts during a two-day symposium "Barack Obama and American Democracy," which gathered leading scholars to assess the implications of President Barack Obama's presidency, expressed their belief that Obama has not sufficiently addressed race issues.
While Friday's panels mainly discussed foreign policy, the conversation on Saturday turned to domestic issues.
University of Louisville Professor of Political Science Ricky Jones criticized the President for his unwillingness to speak out about race, which, he said, was characteristic of a general shift.
"Black leadership is becoming increasingly conservative and less willing to speak about specific racial issues than they have in the past," Jones said.
Jones, who spoke at one of Saturday's panels titled "Hope and Change?: Assessing Obama's Domestic Policies," focused on the implications of Obama's presidency for racial minorities or those of low socioeconomic status.
Professor Boyce Watkins from Syracuse University expanded on what Jones said, noting that Obama avoids discussing political solutions to racial problems even when speaking to audiences with a black majority.
"He gives the same ‘pull yourself up by your own bootstraps' that my pastor says to me," Watkins said. "I need you to say what you're going to do as president."
Joyce Sackey, dean of multicultural affairs and global health at the Tufts University School of Medicine, highlighted public health issues, noting that the government needs to not just widen citizens' access to health care but also to address the physician shortage.
Watkins criticized the President's approach to health care for not focusing on controlling costs. "Obama made a deal with the insurance companies before he even started reform which pretty much killed any hope of meaningful reform," Watkins said.
Professor of History at Fairfield University Yohuru Williams also discussed health care at his keynote address on Saturday evening. He posited that Obama might have pursued health care reform before a jobs bill because health care costs are damaging even for the employed.
He felt that Obama's election was a watershed moment, marking an expanded role for persons of diverse backgrounds in American politics. "We have to appreciate the depth of this historical moment as an opportunity to reassess the role of we-the-people," Williams said.
Speaking at the next panel, "What Barack Obama Means for American Democracy," John Stauffer, Harvard University professor of English and American literature and language, said that Obama's election highlighted the possibilities of American democracy. "Few Americans believed before the election that a black man could be elected president," he said. "Obama has broadened American democracy as an ideal."
Stauffer noted, however, that Obama has yet to fully use his power and challenged him to play a tougher brand of politics to get his policies enacted. "Obama has immense amounts of power as president," he said. "So far he hasn't utilized it."
Matthew Whitaker, Arizona State University associate professor of U.S. history, said that Obama has not changed since his campaign. Whitaker also highlighted the importance of grassroots action, calling on neglected groups to apply political pressure for their causes.
"A social movement put him into office," he said. "A social movement is going to sustain him and allow him to do what he was elected to do."
Whitaker feels the capacity for such a movement exists and efforts across the country just need to unify their approaches. "If churches and campaigns can fund campaigns because of the pennies and dimes that old people put into cups," he said. "It's there. We just need to figure out how to focus it and prioritize it." The panel also delved into a discussion of the place of minority groups at Tufts.
Associate Professor of Political Science Pearl Robinson pointed out that University President Lawrence Bacow's appointment to Obama's reestablished advisory committee on historically black colleges and universities could be misleading.
"It makes it look like Tufts is a place where, as a matter of course in our curriculum, this kind of thing happens every day, but it does not." she said.
Robinson, who is the former director of the Africa in the New World interdisciplinary minor program, at the panel and in an interview with the Daily noted that Tufts' curriculum has few offerings for the study of persons of African descent. She highlighted the fact that the program is the only one at the university offering a concentration in African studies, and has a limited budget of just $1,000.
"The study of African Americans ought to be more a part of the curriculum in terms of our academic budget," she said. African Student Organization President Vivian Mbawuike, a sophomore, echoed those concerns and at the panel expressed her regret that the university does not put more substantial support behind African studies in academics despite annually giving out approximately $30,000 for high-publicity African cultural events.
Mbawuike told the Daily that while events like the symposium are encouraging, they are no replacement for academic study. "You come and hear about Barack Obama, but then you go back to your own bubble," Mbawuike said. "That doesn't change a whole semester."
She said that several groups have petitioned for the creation of an African American studies department at Tufts.
In introductory remarks for Williams' address, Professor of History Peniel Joseph said the symposium created an opportunity to discuss issues that do not often come up.
"We have to be able to speak those unspeakable things," Joseph said. "Tufts University has to have spaces where people feel comfortable talking about race and diversity, even when they disagree."
Joseph said the movement for civil equality and social harmony in this country is a long-term one. "This is an ongoing struggle," he said. "This is a struggle for long marchers."
