It's a million local fights'

As election season sweeps the country again, students got the chance to hear from one of the nation's brightest political minds.

Melissa Harris-Perry, a professor of politics and African American studies at Princeton, spoke to a packed H.M. Michaeux School of Education auditorium Friday morning about "African-American Civic Engagement Post Obama."

At Princeton, Perry teaches courses such as, "Introduction to African American Politics," "African-American Political Thought" and "Hurricane Katrina and American Politics."

She can often be seen  on MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" and the "Rachel Maddow Show."

She is also a contributing writer for the "The Nation," a weekly liberal magazine.

Her speech discussed black political and civic engagement accomplishments but also its shortcomings.

Perry explained she was glad to be "home" and felt connected to the Triangle because of her degrees at area universities.

She obtained her undergraduate degree in English from Wake Forest University, where Maya Angelou was her adviser, and her doctorate in political science at Duke.

 Perry, herself, taught political science at N.C. Central University the 1996-97 academic year.

 "NCCU was the first place I taught after college," said Perry. "I was 22 or 23 at the time and taught World Civilizations to 1500. It was some of the hardest and most rewarding teaching I've done."

Perry has taught students from grade school to graduate school and said she was inspired to teach by her parents.

 Her father was the dean of African-American Affairs at the University of Virginia and her mother was a life-long educator.

 Perry kept the audience engaged and explained why racial barriers truly did not fall with the election of    Obama and still remained.

 "The election was a healing of double consciousness," said Perry. "After Obama was elected African Americans became a solution instead of a problem."

"It healed double consciousness, the two warring selves, and at that moment we felt like citizens. My President and First Lady have hair like me," she said.

 Perry explained that black leaders, like mayors, were elected in cities that were going through structural changes such as a reduction in the tax base, the flight capital, and an increase in poverty.

 She said this environment — an environment that has led to high unemployment — has made the election of Obama "a hollow prize" for the nation's first black president.

 Perry said that Obama, like Lyndon B. Johnson during the civil rights movement, needs support and pressure from below.

 During the civil rights movement Martin Luther King, Jr. played this role to President Johnson.

 "Civic engagement matters," said Perry. "Pressure must come from the bottom. Without that pressure presidents can't act."

 "Presidents need Kings. Who will be Obama's MLK  ... ?" she asked. "We have to lead ourselves. It's a million local fights."

In a response from an audience question, Perry said that public bigotry rears up like it has every 10 years or so. She said that "all of the noise we hear is the death rattle of American racism."

"We must assume the fact that they're pushing back proves we're winning," she said.

 Perry finished off a week of political lectures, that included a meeting with N.C. Fourth District Congressman David Price (Dem.).

 The lecture was hosted by the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, the Institute for Civic and Social Change, and the NCCU chapter of Pi Sigma Alpha, the national political science honor society.

 Perry is the author of the award-winning book, "Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black     Political Thought."

Her newest book, "Sister Citizen: A Text for Colored Girls Who've Considered Politics When Being Strong Wasn't Enough," will be published by Yale University Press in August. 

Perry said that she had hoped that more young African Americans would get into politics since Obama's election but that it hasn't yet happened.

 "It may be that the Obama backlash may have discouraged others from running," said Perry.

 "How do we encourage the best and brightest to go into office?"

Perry said that she is in politics but not a candidate because she never really liked public policy and wanted to find "big answers to big problems." She said that her first political campaign was with John Edwards and that her husband once ran for mayor of New Orleans.

 "I can say whatever I believe to be true because I'm not running for office," she said.

 "Politics is about raising money and it's not exciting to spend all your time fundraising."

Perry said that if she could sum up the modern African American experience it would be "doubleness."

"We've accomplished even more but there are still challenges," she said. "We're still meeting resistance but nothing is impossible."