Kennedy, Randall2015-06-082014Randall Kennedy, Black America's Promised Land: Why I Am Still a Racial Optimist, 25.5 The American Prospect 22 (2014).1049-7285http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:16208412The economic meltdown that accompanied Obama to the White House (and probably played a major role in his initial election) devastated the earnings and assets of black Americans. Since his election, they have not recouped their losses in what has only been a tepid recovery tipped in favor of the haves. According to Thomas Jefferson, "The two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government." According to Abraham Lincoln, differences between blacks and whites "will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equalityen-USJournal Article