No change in blacks' plight despite Obama

Tension has been escalating in Ferguson, Missouri, since the fatal shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown by a police officer early this month, with the shooting triggering debate on whether it was the result of racial discrimination. And this warrants a broader look at the issue of how African-Americans are faring in US society today.

On a symbolic level, having a black man as president of the country may be important, but on a practical level, African Americans continue to face the same very real problems. At best, US President Barack Obama's election in 2008 can be considered an interim point in a healing process that must continue.

The core issue by which to measure progress is the actual situation of African Americans in the United States. The social and economic status of African Americans today actually is, truth be told, rather catastrophic. For example, the unemployment rate of black Americans is more than twice the rate for whites. Black teenagers are more than twice as likely not to finish high school than white teens.