Is racism resolved now that we have elected an African American President?

One of the statements I have heard about the election of President-elect Obama is that this is finally a concrete demonstration of the fact that the United States has moved beyond racism. Please note that the only people I have heard this from are white. I have not heard this from any minority.

Here is the problem with that view in the form of a question: Was gender discrimination eliminated when someone hired the first female CEO? The answer is simply "no". It was clear that there were opportunities for women. However, people concerned with gender issues pointed out that ratios did not accurately reflect what they believed to demonstrate gender equality. They also sited disparity in pay rates and the expectation of not just one CEO, but multiple CEOs at every type of organization. Another point was that, while there was a female CEO, there was a lack of representation at the VP level.

So, let's apply this same criteria to government. Our House and Senate are predominantly white. Our Supreme Court is predominantly white. I would suspect that our new President's Cabinet will be primarily white.

Simply put, the election of an African American President does not put an end to racism. It will not be long until we hear of the need to reach racial and gender parity in all other aspects of government and within our corporations. The choice of an African American President will be heralded as a "good start."

For those of you wishing to put the specter of racism behind this country, I have to say that I don't believe this will happen.

The question of whether or not this nation is really beyond racism is a much broader topic that I will not attempt to cover here. My short answer is we are still racist. Just look at Jeremiah Wright as a great example that racism is alive and well within the United States.

Aloha.