The End Of Black Politics?

From Matt Bai's New York Times Sunday magazine piece:

"If Obama is president, it will no longer be tenable to go to the white community and say you've been victimized," Artur Davis told me. "And I understand the poverty and the condition of black America and the 39 percent unemployment rate in some communities. I understand that. But if you go out to the country and say you've been victimized by the white community, while Barack Obama and Michelle and their kids are living in the White House, you will be shut off from having any influence."

As a candidate, Obama has outlined an agenda for "civil rights and criminal justice," aimed primarily at urban African-Americans. His platform includes refocusing the Justice Department on hate crimes, banning racial profiling by federal law-enforcement agencies and reforming mandatory minimum sentences (which disproportionately affect black men, especially those convicted on crack-cocaine charges). Obama's black advisers caution, however, that no one should expect him to behave like a civil rights leader, marching alongside Al Sharpton to protest the next Jena or putting black causes ahead of anyone else's. "It's a very interesting question, but as a black person, you should feel confident that he will focus on your injustices and know that all the other injustices in other communities affect you too," Valerie Jarrett told me. "There have been wounds in all the communities, not just in the black community. There are plenty of wounds to go around."