Lynching Barack Obama

Molefi Kete Asante argues that the infamous historical acts of lynching Black men in the United States might be used to describe how many people of the White right wing have used various techniques to "string up" presidential objectives. Barack Obama, as the first Black president of the United States, met immediate resistance from a White majority that voted for his opponent in 2008. This was repeated in 2012. Asante contends that Whites felt that they had lost "their" country and the only way to act was to prevent Obama from asserting himself as a Black man. Asante shows in a compelling manner, by choosing many of the attacks on Obama found in the media, that the president was tied up, roped, and hung out to dry by the White Republican right. Nevertheless, as Asante explains, Obama championed some of the most progressive actions ever addressed by a president.