If it was just about political power it wouldn't make much sense given we've had a darker skinned person as president half this century (slight exaggeration), not to mention the current vice president, etc. etc.
In the western world I’d say it’s more about economic power, or the power behind the politicians. The 1% and large corporations are the real power, not whoever happens to be in office this week.
> If it was just about political power it wouldn't make much sense given we've had a darker skinned person as president half this century (slight exaggeration), not to mention the current vice president, etc. etc.
The distribution of power isn't binary, all or nothing. African-Americans have gained some power, but if you look at photos of Congress, the courts, the executive branch, governors, Fortune 1000 CEOs, powerful people in Silicon Valley, etc., it will be apparent who has most of the power.
I think you're implying the rich are powerful, which seems rather obvious since being rich is usually the result of being successful in some fashion.
I took a quick look into the African American stats you mention from https://www.statista.com/chart/18905/us-congress-by-race-eth.... It appears ~14% of the house is African American - the same as the reported percentage of the population. In other words exactly what you'd expect if the house was draw at random from the population.
In the senate, it looks like only ~3-4% is currently African American. The senate of course is composed of two senators from each state, thus over representing the sparsly populated states that have very little ethnic diversity (most of the country by area), so a more thorough analysis would be necessary to argue something about skin color having an effect/how much of an effect on senate races.
At a glance, it doesn't look too different from what I would expect given the assumption skin color/race aren't important (my experience everywhere I've lived in the USA). But, the US varies so greatly between regions it may as well be a few countries mashed together in many respects. My hunch is that the house/senate will continue to become more ethnically diverse given the current climate - being from a minority group seems more beneficial, if anything, politically.