Barack is In - What’s Next for Race Relations In This Country?

Filed under: , , ,

Now that Barack Obama has won the battle for the presidency, what will it mean for race relations in this country? Will America have to put aside all of the unreasonable opinions and prejudices and out-and-out racist ideas and start to view itself as finally united? Will we begin to view each other individually --not as black people and white people, but as Americans?

I've seen a lot of comments on these pages from some very hateful and confused people who accuse blacks of being racist because there is a Black History Month or a Miss Black America pageant or even an AOL Black Voices.

Well, there was a need for Black History Month to let people know that contributions by blacks to this country extend beyond the spheres of slavery and civil rights. Yes, there were Frederick Douglass and Harriett Tubman, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., but the inventions and industries created by and built on the backs of African Americans have been mostly ignored. Inventing the traffic light, the filament that made the light bulb possible, the mailbox, and the original golf tee, plus discovering blood plasma and three hundred uses for the peanut -- all were accomplished by African Americans. That's why we have Black History Month, so that we'll, to borrow a phrase, "never forget."

But will having a President Barack Obama eliminate that need to remember? Will black contributions now find their way into the annals of mainstream America?

soKe.flace('bv-news-sports-election_2008_pop_up', '476', '600'); var uid = new Date().getTime(); var flashProxy = new FlashProxy(uid, 'http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/modtools/kit_swfpublisher_javascriptflashgateway.swf'); var flashvars = {}; try { flashvars.lcId = uid; } catch (Exc) { }; try { flashvars.outlet_w = '476'; } catch (Exc) { }; try { flashvars.outlet_h = '600'; } catch (Exc) { }; try { flashvars.targetDivId = 'bv-news-sports-election_2008_pop_up'; } catch (Exc) { }; try { flashvars.targetAds = 'bv-news-sports-election_2008_pop_up'; } catch (Exc) { }; try { flashvars.omniture_tracker = '0'; } catch (Exc) { }; try { flashvars.adrefresh_wrapper = '1'; } catch (Exc) { }; try { flashvars.appswfURL = soKe.fv('http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=333121&pid=333120&uts=1225866718'); } catch (Exc) { }; if (typeof(screen_name) != 'undefined') try { flashvars.userName = screen_name; } catch (Exc) { }; var params = {}; try { params.wmode = 'opaque'; } catch (Exc) { }; try { params.quality = 'best'; } catch (Exc) { }; try { params.allowscriptaccess = 'always'; } catch (Exc) { }; var attributes = {}; try { attributes.id = 'outlet'; } catch (Exc) { }; top.exd_space.refresher.ads2Refresh(new Array( 'bv-news-sports-election_2008_pop_up', new Array('93223078', '300', '250', '0') )); top.exd_space.refresher.iFrm2Refresh(new Array( 'bv-news-sports-election_2008_pop_up', new Array('Placement_ID', '1368494'), new Array('Domain_ID', '1017772') )); top.exd_space.refresher.mmx('bv-news-sports-election_2008_pop_up', 'http://www.aolcdn.com/_media/channels/ke_blank.html', ''); swfobject.embedSWF('http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf', 'bv-news-sports-election_2008_pop_up-swf', '476', '600', '8.0.0', 'http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/swfobject/expressinstall.swf', flashvars, params, attributes); top.exd_space.refresher.launcher( 'bv-news-sports-election_2008_pop_up',{ dynamicSlide:[''], size:['456s'], photoNumber:['56'], title:['2008 Elections'], numimages:['150'], baseImageURL:['http://cdn.compuserve.com/'], imageurl:['http://o.aolcdn.com/feedgallery/fotosrch/0/20081104AZAL107.jpg'], credit:['Getty Images'], source:['Getty Images'], caption:['Election Day: Flip through the latest election pictures.'], dims:['http://o.aolcdn.com/dims/PGMC/5/295/197/70/'], showDisclaimerText:[''], disclaimerText:['BlackVoices.com'], CSS_Title:[''], CSS_Caption:[''], CSS_Disclaimer:[''], CSS_Container:[''], CSS_Border:[''], CSS_PhotoWell:[''], CSS_photoHolder:[''], CSS_Buttons:[''], CSS_BtnOver:[''], CSS_Scroll:[''], topMargin:['0,0,295,197,238,196,0,0