I did a recent CNN appearance along with the actor Hill Harper and Dr. Alvin Poussaint at Harvard University. The series was a one-year anniversary segment featuring political issues within the African American community. for the entire week, the primary focus was on the impact that President Barack Obama has had on African American men. Given that I've been a black man for quite a while now, I found this conversation topic particularly interesting, so getting to speak to Richelle Carey again wasn't the only perk of doing the job that day.

It must be made clear that the president should not be expected to save the entire world in one swoop. His job is difficult, and he can't give everyone what they want all the time. But to the extent that President Obama has been positioned to trump pre-existing black leadership (remember that some say we now live in a post-racial America), one can argue that President Obama's rantings in black churches come with some degree of accountability from the Oval Office. Obama has spoken at NAACP meetings, telling black men to take responsibility for our families (as if none of us do) and to engage in more personal responsibility (as if we don't do that already). Such tough talk should be backed by meaningful policy, since structural incentives play a dominant role in the ultimate choice of the individual. For example, when companies get tax incentives to invest in new projects, they almost always do.

Obama's approval ratings among African Americans are typically above 90 percent, so the black community decided long ago that it is not going to critique the president on almost anything. But I argue that it is necessary to remind politicians that you are part of their constituency too. The image of a black president means nothing without meaningful action. The picture of Obama on your t-shirt is not going to help you find another job.

Here are a list of things that Obama has done for black men:

1) He has inspired us: Besides seeing the usual heroes (actually non-heroes), like 50 Cent and Michael Jordan on television, black men are now regularly reminded that you can become a hero by going to law or medical school. I've made the argument in many settings that it's easier to get rich as a lawyer than as a football player: There are more jobs, it's easier to do and you can make money for a longer period of time. Obama has helped send that message to young black men.

2) He has helped to reshape our image to the world: Barack Obama is the first black man to get this much media attention without holding a gun or a basketball. That makes me happy. Some want to blame black men for our horrible media images. But that's silly, since we don't get to decide where the media chooses to point its cameras (media don't tend to show up when black men are doing good things). We also don't own the record labels which choose to promote the very worst that hip hop has to offer.

3) He has opened doors for the black elite: Behind the scenes, President Obama has helped create quite a few meaningful jobs for African Americans within his administration. If you are a black person who went to Harvard, Yale or Stanford, the doors have never been opened wider for you to rise to the top of our society. Do you think that Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates would normally have been able to convince the President of the United States to risk his job security to help resolve a dispute with a local police officer? I think not. Access to the White House has never been better for black folks who hang out at Martha's Vineyard.


Here are things that Barack Obama has NOT done for black men:

1) He has not helped us to find jobs: Black male unemployment is as high as 50 percent in some urban areas. If white America were forced to endure such a tragedy, they would riot in the streets. For some reason, African Americans have decided that it's ok for us to remain second class citizens, so we don't say a peep about our consistent economic crisis. The president still does not engage in any form of targeted economic policy, in large part because he has a Fed Chair (Ben Bernanke) and top economic adviser (Lawrence Summers) who've proven that they know almost nothing about black people. This has got to change.

2) He has not yet helped us get out of prison: I look forward to seeing just how hard the Attorney General's Office works to directly confront the holocaust of mass incarceration now destroying the black community. The US loves to put black men in prison and this is destroying the black family. Attacking our problems with racial profiling, inequities in representation and sentencing disparities might do the trick. Additionally, we must find ways to rehabilitate inmates rather than punish them.

3) He has not yet helped black men become a fundamental part of America: Black men remain marginalized from the rest of our country, whether they are inmates or corporate executives. I find that, even in my work as a scholar, complete assimilation to white American thought was a job requirement that I refused to fulfill. When individuals are marginalized, they then have no incentive to support the institutions from which they've been banished. Marginalizing a group of people is a way to make them into fundamental threats to your society - whether you are talking about educated black men or brothers on the street. When we continue our commitment to Jim Crow-like segregation and genocide, we are ultimately destroying the soul of our great nation.

Some make the argument that by asking for government help, we are somehow denying the importance of personal responsibility. If that's the case, then all the Republicans complaining to the government about 10% unemployment should remain silent. This is our government too, we pay taxes, and we deserve our president's attention as much as anyone else. Black people can help the president by using our voices and not remaining silent: Accountability and love can be part of the same package.

The CNN video of me discussing this topic with Richelle is below. Enjoy!



Dr. Boyce Watkins is a professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, "Black American Money." To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.