In recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, State Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Rochdale Village, Far Rockaway) held a debate on the Obama Administration and posing the question of whether it was fruitful or fruitless. Some 100 people attended the event which was held on Sunday afternoon at the Black Spectrum Theatre in Jamaica, and featured political and historical experts as guest debaters.
The debate was moderated by Dr. Ron Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century and distinguished lecturer at York College. It followed traditional public forum debate rules, with each side presenting an opening argument, followed by an opportunity for each team to ask the other any clarifying questions, a rebuttal, a summary, and questions from the audience.
Senator Sanders along with Dr. Lessie Branch, a senior research fellow at the DuBois Bunche Center for Public Policy at Medgar Evers College argued the fruitless side, citing a decrease in socio-economic wellbeing for African-Americans, specifically declines black wealth, income, retirement savings and home ownership, along with an increase in poverty.
“The situation black folks find themselves in is dire and getting worse,” Sanders said. “I have all kinds of facts and figures, but I want to focus on the housing market meltdown. Black people lost more than 40 percent of their wealth that they made from slavery in four years, most of them under Obama. In four yearsmore than 40 percent of everything that you gathered together in 400 years went down the drain.”
Branch made three arguments. First, that Obama’s rhetoric spread optimistic color blindness in an age of inequality. Second, that rhetoric disempowered black-linked faith and collective action focused on stagnated socioeconomic parity. Third, Branch stated blacks need narratives and a social movement to realign their socio-economic perceptions with their socio-economic reality.
“I am very grateful that I have lived in the age of Obama,” Sanders said. “I was the only elected official in Queens to have endorsed him. But my friends, you don’t throw your minds away just because a person is black. You hold everyone to the same standards. Whether it’s Bernie, Clinton, Obama, Trump – we have black interests. You have to hold everyone to the same standards or else you will never get out of this hole that you’re in.”
The fruitful side was argued by Dr. Dierdre Cooper-Owens, assistant professor of history at Queens College and the Rev. Dr. Alfonso Wyatt, vice-president and project director of the Jericho Faith-Based Technical Assistance Project. They presented advancements in the areas of healthcare, with the creation of the Affordable Care Act, Precision Medical Initiative and Children’s Health Insurance Authorization Act. They also explained economic gains under Obama with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Dodd-Frank Act and creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Finally, they offered environmental wins such as the Paris Climate Agreement and cited how natural gas power plants have replaced coal at a rapid rate.
The audience was asked to decide the winner based on three criteria: matter (the logic and relevance of the arguments, manner (the style with which the argument was presented) and method (the structure and clarity of the speech). They concluded that each side presented equally valid arguments and the debate was declared a tie.
The event was co-sponsored by Senator Leroy Comrie and Assembly Members Alicia Hyndman and Clyde Vanel.
The community partners were: The Black Institute, National Action Network (Queens Chapter), NAACP (Jamaica Chapter), Guy R. Brewer United Democratic Club, 100 Suits for 100 Men, Organizing for Action (South Queens Chapter), New York Progressive Action Network (NYPAN), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. (Queens Alumnae Chapter), Indo-Caribbean Alliance, Inc., and Dream Team Leaders.
We would like to thank Golden Krust and Stop and Shop for providing the refreshments. |
