Turning Out the Center: Racial Politics and African Agency in the Obama Era

Given President Obama's current ambiguous stand on racial matters, many African Americans are asking legitimate questions about the implications of his presidency for African Americans and for antiracist struggle. They speculate about whether he has "sold out" or whether he is strategizing for a future moment when he will act decisively in the interest of African Americans in fulfilling his duty to serve all Americans. This article contends that Obama's ambiguity and the need to pose the above questions flow from the contradictions involved with an African American occupying the presidential office in a country that has yet to eradicate anti-Black racism. The fundamental question, then, is one about the limits around African agency within dominant institutions. Through a discussion of African agency and African conceptions of community, this article contributes to a conversation about how African Americans might maximize African agency where it is found within dominant institutions.