November 4th, a momentous day in America’s colourful history, Barack Obama became the 44th President Elect, the same race that had forbad a black man to share their parks and buses overwhelmingly declared him their leader, I ask you how can you rebuke the tears of Jesse Jackson, who stood on that balcony as Martin was brutally assassinated, his crime expecting the same rights attributed to every Caucasian to be equally administrated to the African American and Hispanic masses.

To claim that every man and woman who braved the storm of oppression just 40 years ago, is not entitled to celebrate the election of a Mixed Race President is surely amiss. The euphoria that accompanied both the Presidents election and inauguration is not a reflection of his politics particularly, it is a marker that displays how many steps forward we have taken since the We Shall Overcome movement since the songs of the slaves.

Jesse Jackson never liked Barack Obama’s politics he felt that he looked down on Black People and used language probably too abrasive for this website to describe Me Obama and yet on the day of his election just like millions of others the tears streamed down. Not everyone who championed Obama’s election as a step forward were voting for him. Many were ardent conservatives and yet they accepted the symbolism that this brought.

The claim that Obama was elected as a result of his race (not directly addressed in the article written by Aaron S) is ludicrous. The only way the democrats could have lost after the way Bush and his Republican majority disillusioned voters would have been to make huge mess of it. Obama’s campaign was actually slick and well run only blighted by a number of racial and religious controversies emerging about his past.

As I already noted to have elected Obama as a direct result of his race would have been ridiculous, however to champion his success as a step in the right direction is to open our eyes to what our society truly is. I am not sure what you have experienced but modern society certainly Is discriminatory whether it is black on white or white on black, it certainly exists.

I believe you are correct in your assertion that, in making such a scene of the race of Presidential candidate proves that racism is far from dead, and that equal opportunity will be stifled so long as race is a consideration, however is it not essential to see whre we are. Equal Opportunity is not commonplace in global society so we should celebrate forward movement not reject it as no different.

While I agree some of the racial politics employed by each candidates supporters was disgusting and that the fact Obama’s race was a factor in his election proves clearly that racism is far from dead but I would argue that we shouldn’t discard culture to form one seamless peoples group and that whether we like it or not a mixed race man being elected is massive deal and huge accomplishment in changing the attitudes of America’s people. To miss its significance would be to ignore history and that would surely be incorrect.