Black History Month in February will mark just over a year since the election of Barack Obama. Still, in this Black History Month and beyond, the real day-to-day lives for tens of millions of African Americans forces the question: Is the rise of this one man also the rise of the great mass of black people? And if not, what gives?

Former President Carter said in September that racism is playing a significant role in the mounting opposition to President Obama by the right wing. The politics of racism are once again on display, as the forces of right-wing mass media and reaction look to divide and confuse the working class.

On July 16, world-renowned African American Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was questioned and arrested in his own Cambridge home as though he was an intruder. A neighbor had called 911 after seeing what she thought might be a burglary in progress. It was just Gates and his driver trying to force open the front door, which was jammed.

Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman (D-GA) and 2008 Green Party presidential candidate (and one of 21 people detained by the Israeli military in late June for attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza), spoke at St. Mary’s Church in Harlem on Sunday, May 31 to announce the formation of a new group called DIGNITY.

Cole, an African American man convicted of raping a white woman in 1985, was officially declared innocent this February, over nine years after he met his death in prison in 1999.

The vast majority of African Americans will see this as a defining moment. Within living memory, there was Jim Crow segregation in the South and black people died in the struggle to get the right to vote. Even 20 years ago, most Americans, black and white, would have seen an African-American president as almost inconceivable. But many commentators in the mass media and many in the political establishment go further and claim that this is the fulfillment of the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the massive struggles of the civil rights movement.

According to data from the FBI, there has been a steady increase in incidents of racial violence in recent years. In addition, as indicated by the Intelligence Report of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which tracks racially-based crimes, the FBI statistics vastly underreport the actual incidence of attacks against minorities.

Oscar Grant, a 22 year-old African-American man, was fatally shot by transit police in Oakland on New Year’s Day in front of dozens of witnesses and cameras. Disbelief, horror, and outrage are sweeping the country as videos of the incident circulate over the internet.

It is entirely understandable why the vast majority of African Americans are enthused by his candidacy and why many people see the election as a referendum on racism. But as socialists, we must state clearly that electing Obama will not fundamentally alter the position of the black working class and poor, a position which is in fact deteriorating.

On May 12, the largest single immigration raid in U.S. history took place in the tiny town of Postville, Iowa, home to the Agriprocessors Kosher meatpacking plant. During the raid, the feds issued 700 warrants and made nearly 400 arrests. The 700 displaced workers represented 75% of the Agriprocessors workforce and a full third of the town’s residents.

Abu-Jamal, a political journalist and activist, was targeted by FBI as early as age 15 for his involvement in the Black Panther Party. His case has received more national and international attention than any other death row case but he is certainly not alone.

The events of May 1st, 2006 showed the determination and courage of im­migrant workers as millions organized demonstrations and strike actions across the country. This May Day 2008, we saw largely native-born dockworkers taking strike action to resist the war in Iraq. It is good to see May 1st, Interna­tional Workers Day, re-established as an event of celebration and resistance in the country of origin, the United States.

Barack Obama denounced his former pastor of 20 years, retired Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Speaking at a press conference in response to Rev. Wright’s National press club speech Barack Obama said that Wright’s “comments were not only divisive and destructive… They certainly don’t portray accurately my values and beliefs”

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who was killed on April 4, 1968 while supporting striking Memphis sanitation workers. Like so many fighters for the oppressed, the ruling class fears and opposes them while they are alive, but following their death an attempt is made to render their legacy harmless through distorting their actual ideas. During his lifetime King inspired millions with his vision that fundamental change in U.S. society was possible.

The Scottsboro Boys case in the ‘30s became an important struggle for racial and economic justice in the South and throughout the country. The “Scottsboro boys” were nine African-American men who were sentenced to death by an all-white jury after being falsely accused of raping two white women on a freight train. These convictions were eventually overturned after a mass defense campaign led by the Communist Party, whose role is very instructive for workers, youth and people of color trying to build a movement now.