AP Report: Obama Clinches Democratic Nomination

Barack Obama as a Harvard Law Student (Joe Wrinn/ Harvard University News/ File) .

June 3, 2008, 10:42am

Sixteen minutes ago the Associate Press reported than an AP tally of convention delegates confirms that presidential hopeful Barack Obama has earned the Democratic Party nomination. To read the entire text of the AP report, click on THIS link.

Throughout this election season, I have wondered whether or not Obama’s victory in several primaries would have an impact on Black educational attainment. I asked myself this question, based on the notion that, whether or not he became the Democratic nominee, Obama’s success in so many state primaries (including a number of states with very few Black voters) effectively eliminated the limits of possibility for Black achievement.

Might his success, I wondered, trickle down to America’s Black youth, making it more difficult to write off high educational achievement and its rewards as something that offered no true possibility of upward mobility, financial self-determination, and the fulfillment of life dreams and goals?

Now that Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination, my question remains. Often the spectre of racism feels daunting, especially to young people for whom whiteness has only represented the oppressive hand of law enforcement and social services. It is no surprise that such youngfolks have internalized the notion that true prosperity and achievement is impossible within a majority white nation.

Obama’s success must necessarily change that perception, however, as it illustrates how — even despite the persistence of individual and institutional racism — Black people can reach unprecedented levels of success and power.

Posted by Ajuan Mance