On January 21, 2009, I watched in Washington, DC, as newly elected President Barack Obama addressed the nation with a message of hope:

The outcome of the 2016 presidential election in the US and the election of Donald Trump was a stark repudiation of Obama's vision and presidency. It was a painful outcome for Black voters, who had overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton. CNN commentator Anthony Kapel “Van” Jones declared, “This was a whitelash against a changing country. It was whitelash against a Black president in part. And that's the part where the pain comes.”

The election revealed once again the divides that have always been part of American politics. Racism has been inextricably bound with politics in this country since its founding. President Obama managed to mobilize new voters, in particular minority voters, in two elections that seemed to indicate a shift in the country. In the meantime, Republican politicians at the state level developed a game plan to suppress minority votes, which helped Trump win, along with Russian interference, as found in an investigation by the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee that concluded in August of 2020: “The Russian government disrupted an American election to help Mr Trump become president, Russian intelligence services viewed members of the Trump campaign as easily manipulated, and some of Mr. Trump's advisers were eager for the help from an American adversary.”

For many in this country, President Obama represented a leader who could finally bridge the racial divides in the US. His rise to prominence began with his Keynote Speech during the 2004 Democratic National Convention.