Obama: Slavery Monument 'Place of Profound Sadness'

Time for the president to break his long silence on America's racial divide

(NEWSER) - President Obama is taking so much heat from opponents wrongly convinced that he's keen on redistributing white America's wealth to African-Americans that he might as well go ahead and do it, Naomi Klein writes in the Guardian. Obama's administration has been pursuing "race-neutral" policies that do nothing to close the massive gap in wealth between races, Klein argues, so much so that it's starting to look like he's "turned his back on black America." More»

(NEWSER) - President Obama today warned Africans that corruption and strong-arm tactics must be overcome if the continent is to see prosperity, and he promised US support to nations on the right path, Politico reports. “America will be with you,” Obama said in Ghana. “As a partner. As a friend.” (He also dusted off his campaign theme, "Yes you can," for his hosts.) The president highlighted the connection between the two with his own history. The “blood of Africa” is “within me,” he said. More»

Obama has work to do to take that title: L. Douglas Wilder

(NEWSER) - When Bill Clinton got tagged as the nation's "first black president," L. Douglas Wilder—the first black governor of Virginia—never quite bought it. When Barack Obama got elected, Wilder figured the US finally had the real deal. Three years in, however, Wilder isn't so sure that Obama has been a better president for African-Americans. Writing for Politico , he points out that Clinton appointed more high-level black officials and was especially aggressive in picking black judges. More»

Africa advocates say White House overlooks troubled continent

(NEWSER) - Michelle Obama's trip to southern Africa this week is giving new life to criticism that the Obama administration is overlooking the troubled continent, reports the Washington Post . The president has been to sub-Saharan Africa only once since taking office— a 24-hour trip to Ghana in 2009 —and critics say the region has been largely ignored. The American government is “not seeing Africa as a big priority," said a spokesman for TransAfrica Forum. "There has been some ambivalence.” More»

Even Bush was better, Kristof writes

(NEWSER) - When is comes to Sudan , Barack Obama has been worse than even George W Bush, argues Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times , who despite his many failings, managed to secure the 2005 deal that ended Sudan's 20-year civil war. Obama's "incoherent, contradictory and apparently failing Sudan policy" is setting the stage for a bloody war or another round of genocide next year, when oil-rich Southern Sudan is likely to vote to secede. More»