Has race gone out the window?

Less than 50 years ago, whites and blacks couldn't share the same bathroom. Less than 50 years ago, whites and blacks couldn't sit in the same part of a city bus in many parts of the country. Less than 50 years ago, blacks fought for the right to eat lunch at the same counter as whites.

But on Tuesday, after years of injustice, prejudice and wrongdoing, the American people elected its first black president-Barack Obama.

And he won by a landslide-he pocketed almost twice the Electoral votes that McCain did-349, well over the 270 he needed to win the presidency.

No hanging chads or recounts here.

Whether you voted for Obama and agree with his politics or not, his win is an unprecedented event in our nation's history. But does his win signify a change in prejudice attitudes in our country? Have we evolved as a nation?

According to an MSNBC exit poll released yesterday, 43 percent of eligible white voters in the United States voted for Obama.

Does that mean that that almost half of the country has no issues with race? Or does that mean that 43 percent of the U.S. doesn't care about the color of their president but do care about race in other contexts?

I think the latter. I think that a brilliant, eloquent, sincere half-white, half-Kenyan man won the hearts of the majority of Americans. But I don't think that bigotry in America is on its way out. I think that we have just begun the journey of healing and restoration between races in our country.

I feel like I can talk about this, because I am white and engaged to a black man, and I have seen the nasty looks and heard the comments. I've experienced discriminatory attitudes. In fact, on Election Day, I witnessed some of these attitudes first-hand. I had the wrong color fiancé, and therefore was almost prohibited from entering the polling place with him. What a shame.

The media can talk about how far we have come as a country all they want, but like I said, this path will be a long and hard one-even though Obama's victory is historical.

What does Obama's win mean for our state? For Greenville? For ECU?

As of yesterday, hours after the announcement that Obama had defeated McCain, it was still too close to call in North Carolina. And judging by the Facebook comments I've seen over the last few days, ECU students aren't too much closer to achieving racial harmony.

I think we'll get there, but we aren't there yet. We are a maturing America, not a complete one. Not yet.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm underestimating America's power to change. But maybe I'm just echoing what President-elect, Obama said himself Tuesday night, "The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there."

Maybe 50 years from now, I'll be writing an article about the fifth or sixth black president, or the second or third Hispanic president or the first gay president, but right now, we have not arrived.

This writer can be contacted at editor@theeastcarolinian.com.