It is quite tempting to relate Martin Luther King, Jr. to Barack Obama. Both had reached their respective zeniths by becoming representative forces of black people. The president’s rise to power illustrated how the United States consigned some of its prejudices to the dustbin of history. However, as proved by the issues deriving from Michael Brown’s murder, Americans still struggle with racism. In fact, since Obama took office, his political action has distanced itself from the activism of MLK — after all, a “moral crusader and a Commander-in-Chief grapple with different prerogatives”. Jelani Cobb talks about this in his opinion piece for The New Yorker.
Originally published on Urbaniting.