Obama’s 2008 election coincided with catastrophic black foreclosure losses

Evidence

The irony is obvious and biting. So many Americans reveled in the historic significance of Barack Obama’s election in 2008. There was a sense of real, exciting possibility, even as the nation confronted the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. It was a moment of contrasts, of decline but also of possibility—that somehow we were putting the ugliness of our racial past behind us as the country teetered on economic collapse. Uncertainty shadowed national euphoria, and this was especially true for African Americans. Many danced election night away and talked about the fulfillment of the civil rights movement, then woke up to foreclosure notices on their doors. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 44

Categorization

• XREF: Sets up the governing irony of the whole book — Obama’s symbolism against black material ruin — directly relevant to the reader’s question about how Democratic loyalty became a trap. — connects to: Obama’s election coincided with black families facing foreclosure, not racial progress.