Last night it became official: we elected an African-American to be the nominee for a major party in the United States of America. It's a huge accomplishment, and I congratulate the American people (or at least the Democratic Party) on their willingness to elect a black leader to represent them. However, WE MUST NOT STOP HERE. Barack Obama's success does not mean that we have solved the problem of race in this country. Rather we need to continue working to ensure racism in this country comes to an end.
Racism is still a big problem in this country. From personal experience, I can tell you that when I went to high school in my wealthy suburb of Indianapolis, I only knew two white students in my class of over 1,000. While there are exceptions, it is not a secret that the vast majority of the urban poor are African Americans. The number of African Americans who are in our jails is disproportional to the race ratios that exist in this country. In 2002, no African Americans were represented in the Senate. This changed in 2004 when Barack Obama was elected as the senator from Illinois. We saw all too clearly the racism inherent in this country after the tragic calamity of Hurricane Katrina. And the vast majority of CEOs in this country are white, as African Americans are overrepresented in the lower tiers of society.
Now, Barack Obama's nomination means we have made extraordinary leaps and bounds from the way we used to be. But racial equality still needs to be something our country strives to achieve. We must continue to ensure that whites and blacks are able to be equals in our society.