As President Obama prepares tonight's farewell speech, his approval ratings are well above many ex-presidents and much higher than Donald Trump's. He's bound to go down in history as the first black president of a nation with a legacy of slavery, Jim Crow and other forms of racial discrimination. We ask activists and historians about the example he and his family have set during the past eight years. Are millions of black people better off because of his policies? What's the state of race relations after Barack Obama's two terms in the White House?
Barack Obama and race in America
Credits
Guests:
- Peniel Joseph - historian and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, founder of the school’s Center for the Study of Race and Democracy - @PenielJoseph
- DeRay McKesson - Black Lives Matter - @deray
- Jason A. Johnson - journalism and communication professor at Morgan State University and political contributor at MSNBC - @drjasonjohnson
- Andra Gillespie - associate professor of political science at Emory College - @AndraGillespie