Jabari Asim Tells Us What Obama Means

By Lauren Williams, BlackVoices.com

Barack Obama's victory will go down in history as one of the most monumental moments in American politics. But what does it say about popular culture? Author and cultural critic Jabari Asim looks at the relationship between African American cultural figures and Barack Obama in his new book, 'What Obama Means' ($14.95, Amazon.com).

In honor of Obama's historic inauguration, Asim, who is also editor-in-chief of The Crisis, spoke with Black Voices about his book, the cultural icons whose achievements helped pave Obama's way and what our new president's success means to him.

What made you want to approach Barack Obama's candidacy from a cultural perspective?
There was a lot of talk early on about what impact on American culture Obama's campaign would have in terms of how we looked at African Americans. I wanted to reverse the equation and say, "What impact did the culture have on Obama's candidacy?" There have been tremendous advances for African Americans in certain cultural categories like entertainment, sports and business. Politics is a cultural category, so it sort of followed that eventually there would be some kind of extraordinary presence or victory in that field as well.

Do you think pop culture icons like Prince or Michael Jordan or some of the other figures you in write about in your book were necessary in order for Obama to become president?
I do think they're necessary. Historically, in terms of the cultural categories where African Americans have made persuasive advancements in favor of the group, those took place first in categories like entertainment and sports. Even 20 years ago, it was commonplace to say that if you don't play basketball or you don't sing and dance, your opportunities as a black person, and especially a black man, are limited. And we know now that isn't true, but those black men and women who achieved success in those areas help to make it possible.

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A Fridge
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Is there any one cultural moment or figure that contributed most directly to Obama's success in America?
There are so many people, like Martin Luther King, Jr. and, of course, Jesse Jackson's early campaign, but I look at Shirley Chisolm in 1972 and argue that she made a very substantive contribution to our reception of Obama's candidacy because she presented a serious candidacy as an African American. Someone needed to do that. I also look at Barbara Jordan giving the keynote for the 1976 Democratic National Convention. She was the first African American to do so, and she brought the house down in the same way Obama did in 2004.

After Obama won, there was a lot of talk about the "Cosby Effect" or the idea that the 'Cosby Show' helped a generation of voters become more comfortable with the idea of a black president. What do you think?
I think that certainly helps. I think what happened is that the electorate became much more sophisticated than they had been in the past. The "Cosby Effect" certainly contributes there, but I would also argue that a lot of white Americans fell into a state of what we might call enlightened desperation. They were desperate to be rescued. And they were informed enough to know that Obama was qualified to do that.

To play off of the title of your book, what does Obama's victory mean to you?
It means that we've reached a point of critical momentum in terms of black progress. I don't think that Obama was the catalyst for this moment, but he's sort of the culmination. He's a crowning victory in terms of the smaller victories that we've had up to this point, and I think also it means the opening of a new age of opportunities for African Americans. We are limited primarily by this scope of our own ambitions as opposed to other factors. They still exist, but we know that we are all capable of overcoming them now that the last measure of doubt has been removed.

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