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The challenge of the current generation of Black politicians

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) is 85. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is 55.

In his generation, Clyburn saw the first Black president. In his generation, Jeffries is likely to become the first Black Speaker of the House. His rise will mean Black Americans have held three of the highest offices in the federal government — president, vice president and Speaker. And there are currently a record five Black U.S. senators and a record 62 Black members of the House.

“The previous generation, the Moses generation, pointed the way,” then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said before winning the presidency. “They took us 90 percent of the way there. … So, the question, I guess, that I have today is what’s called of us in this Joshua generation? What do we do in order to fulfill that legacy, … the debt that we owe to those who allowed us to be here today?”

Obama’s words speak to discontent among Black voters today, even as Black politics is at a high point.

I used his quote to open my book “New Prize for These Eyes — The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement,” because I hear some Black people asking about the lack of results from record Black political success.

That is especially true of Black men. Twenty-one percent of them voted for President Trump in the last presidential election. They voted against a Black woman while looking at bad schools, an unemployment rate double that of whites, and deepening income inequality with white America.

They are basically asking what Black political power has done for them.  

What about the police brutality of the kind that killed George Floyd? What about Trump’s undermining of affirmative action programs intended to give them a better chance to get into college or entry-level jobs?

Their angst is heard in loud voices now regularly featured on internet websites, podcasts and Black-oriented morning radio shows. It is triggered by recent insults, such as Trump’s refusal to apologize for reposting a meme depicting Obama and his wife as wild apes.

While some young Black people voted for Trump out of frustration, the fact is that polls show about 85 percent of Black Americans voted against him and for a Black woman, former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Now, the question for Black voters is about the value of continuing to invest in pursuit of political power, when white voters remain defiantly opposed to joining hands across racial lines. White voters resist a coalition even when the alternative is Trump’s record of indifference to low-income white people as well as demeaning non-white people.

White Americans have not backed a Democrat for president since the 1960s.

The Southern states, where most Black people live, remain deep red and under the control of Republican politicians who play on white racial grievances to appeal to white votes.

The masked faces of brutal federal agents pursuing brown-skinned people, Latinos, is another reminder of the tenuous standing of non-white people in current American politics. It was underlined by the agents even killing white people protesting authoritarian brutality against Latinos.

In politics, there is a predictable swing of the pendulum. Some political insiders remain convinced that two terms for the first Black president led to the populist white backlash of unquestioning support for Trump.

I worry that for Black voters, the trauma of the Trump era will swing the pendulum to more militant, vitriolic leadership. Angry cries for change, especially the most emotional like “Defund” ICE or the police, are not viewed in right-wing media as desperate outbursts. They are sold to far-right listeners as threats from Black people.

The question for this generation of Black people is how to navigate this current political landscape. In the 1960s, Rev. Dr. King was strategic in emphasizing Christian appeals for justice along with persistent, non-violent protests. It achieved the passage of the Voting Rights Act and the current generation of Black political breakthroughs.

Pragmatic, even temperate voices in the King tradition are currently leading this generation. Those leaders include Jeffries as well as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) and Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.).

Their challenge will be to channel the impatient energy of younger voices calling for upheaval. They also have the chance to work with an unprecedented racial mix to build coalitions with progressive Whites, Latinos and Asians voters to achieve durable progress. That coalition will need young, outspoken Black politicians, notably Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.).

As we honor the life of activist Jesse Jackson, who died last week, it is worth remembering that Black political gains are fragile.

Sharp critiques of today’s Black politicians as the “old guard” are dismissive of the very leaders, Black and white, who strategically opened the door of opportunity to achieve political heights for today’s generation.

As this generation of Black politicians makes its way, they must resist frenzied social media outbursts. Even in dealing with Trump, the patience and non-violence of King, Jackson, Obama, and Clyburn stand tall.

The Moses generation won today’s record level of Black political power and progress. It earned its standing as a model of Black political action for this Joshua generation.

Juan Williams is senior political analyst for Fox News Channel and a prize-winning civil rights historian. He is the author of the new book “New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America’s Second Civil Rights Movement.”

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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