What it means to be Black in America has changed with the election of Barack Obama as 44th president of the United States.  What it means to be Black in America has also reluctantly remained the same since Barack Obama was elected 44th president of the United States. 

The fact that we have elected an African-American as president speaks to how the landscape of America’s ideals have changed.  But we must look at the flip side of this.  Millions of people came out and cast votes against a black man.  I know this because I live in a state where sadly he has already be referred to as the N word.  Racism is our country is not over and we cannot look at this election as a signally of the end of the systematic racism that run through our country.  We still have few blacks in the senate or congress.  Having a black man in the white house does not and cannot erase the blatant absence of them in other sectors of our society. 

I am proud that the day has come and I think of my students past who never thought this day would com in their lifetime.  I think of them and wish they would have believed.  It would have given them hope that their voice matters and that they could/would be heard.  I am happy that we have elected a president that will give hope to many who believed their voice was ignored.  That there plight did not matter.  Obama will serve as inspiration for generations of minorities to come and for that I am thankful.

This summer, CNN ran a special called Black in America.  It was a startling look at the realities of what it means to be black in America.  These are things that the election of Obama cannot erase and does not change. 

• AIDS leading cause of death for black women ages 25-34.
• 2/3 of all new HIV cases are black women.
• There are 1million more working black women than men
• 1 in 3 black kids live in poverty
• 1 in 10 white kids live in poverty
• 60% of black kids live in a single parent home
• 38% of white kids live in a single parent home
• 50% of blacks don’t graduate high school vs. 30% national average of non-graduates
• 49% of murder victims/violent crime victims are black men–only 13% of population is black males

There were many more startling stats present over the three episodes in this special.  These are issues that have not changed.  These are issues that still undermine the potential success of many African Americans. These are the issues that concern me as a white parent of brown skinned children.  Children who will not only get to celebrate the election of a black president but who have to make sense of the hate and marginalization of people who have the same color skin. 

I caution making too much of Obama’s election and infer that it means racism is coming to an end.  On March 20, 1981 Michael Donald, a black man, was walking home in Alabama when he was grabbed, beaten and lynched.  Yes, you read that right lynched.  Only 27 years ago.  I was 10.  That isn’t that long ago.  We cannot ignore the old sentiments that coarse through the veins of our past deep in the southern dirt. 

The work is not done.  With the election of Barack Obama, the work is only now beginning.