Race Relations and the African American Standpoint of the Situation

Ever since President Obama made history with becoming the first African American president, much of the African American community feels as if the United States has come a long way in race relations.

In a recent article, it states that Obama's journey to the White House has "changed the underlying dynamics between white and black Americans." In a USA Today survey that was taken earlier this month, 41 percent of Americans believed that race relations have improved since the election, while 22 percent feel like it has worsened. Also, a survey was done asking African Americans, and 53 percent said that race relations has improved since November. But, 72 percent have found racism is still rampant in the United States.

The author also goes into more depth to say that African Americans are trying to find a president that meets their needs and their policies and Obama represents that. Sam Fulwood thinks otherwise; he feels as if Obama is not going to do anything special for African Americans and that it would be "unfair and unreasonable to think otherwise." But the author feels like President Obama is helping to "close the gap" between races. Like for example, with Obama's health care plan, black are most likely to lack health insurance than whites. So in a sense, Obama's health care plan is helping out African Americans little bit more than the white race in the United States.

Another opinion of Fulwood that the author brings up is with there being a African-American in office, a kind of "pride" as been instilled into the black race, which gives African Americans a stronger belief in their own potential.

By having President Obama elected as president, the United States can truly say anyone can become president, but with this article it just shows how the United States has gone a long way with race, but still has a long way to go with the issue. Hopefully there will come a time when people in general will stop thinking about race altogether, but the United States has not reach that point yet. But, it is getting there.