No Drama Obama? Race and the politics of policing during the Obama presidency

As we approach the final year of the Obama era, this lecture will assess what became of a leader whose election in 2008 apparently heralded a new post-racial America. Has Barack Obama’s presidency delivered the kind of deep-rooted changes that were initially prophesised? Had Obama abandoned his core African-American constituency in favour of projecting a race-neutral approach designed to maintain centrist support? How do we assess Obama’s leadership on issues like policing in the context of the current Black Lives Matter movement that is challenging police brutality? What has become of Obama’s ‘no drama’ persona in this final period of his two-term presidency?

Tags: America, Barack Obama, Centre for Research in Race and Rights, Department of American and Canadian Studies, Kevin Verney, politics, race