Because the Founding Fathers saw fit to weave slavery right into the very fabric of the nation via the Constitution, many a historian has seen fit to refer to that evil institution as America's original sin. Unfortunately, inequality between black and white has somehow persisted way past emancipation, despite pronouncements by political pundits that the election of the first black President had issued in a promising, post-racial era.

 

That is the contention of Princeton Professor Eddie Glaude who argues that the fundamental notion that "all men are created equal" was perverted ab initio by the fact that some were always valued less than others in the U.S. because of the color of their skin. In his new book, Democracy in Black, he indicts a malingering white supremacy that he sees as standing between blacks and the proverbial American Dream.

 

Instead of improving race relations, the author believes that Barack Obama's ascension to the presidency has only served to embolden bigots. As proof, he points to "the increase in explicit racism" reflected in "the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, and so many others."

 

Glaude also talks about the widening wealth gap between blacks and whites which has left the African-American community devastated. Home foreclosures, poverty and an astronomical unemployment rate are just a few of the host of woes visited upon the 'hood.

 

In allocating blame, the author places a fair share of it on the shoulders of the President, whom he basically considers a con man. "In 2008 and again in 2012, Obama sold black America the snake oil of hope and change," he laments. Glaude is just as disappointed with those liberal black politicians who "refused to criticize the President" out of fear of appearing disloyal.

 

The upshot, he concludes, is that black America is far worse off now than before November of 2008, and that the solution resides in a grassroots uprising independent of "the confidence men and their false hopes." In sum, a highly-motivated Ivory Tower academic's sobering clarion call to action and affirmation of the aspirations of the Black Lives Matter movement.

 

 

To order a copy of Democracy in Black, visit:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0804137412/ref%3dnosim/thslfofire-20