Progress... Maybe

The election of Barack Obama on November 2nd as the first African-American President has been championed as a reflection of the great progress our country has made in terms of racial harmony. Certainly a compelling argument that I don't altogther disagree with can be made. I wonder however, how much we have truly progressed ? I am curious if a vote for Obama in this election was a true affirmation that he is a progressive, proactive, visionary leader or if it was simply a knee jerk reaction to the politics of perhaps one of the worst Presidents and administrations to ever infect 16oo Pennsylvania Avenue? I can fully agree that Obama is a dynamic speaker and ran a fantastic campaign and has truly inspired hope for change in our country, but again I ask... did the Obama/Biden ticket bring the country together or have we been polarized and forced to unite against eight years of Bush and Cheney?

On the same day that Obama was elected President, perhaps ushering in a new era of social and racial cooperation, the most populous state in the union, California, voted against recognizing the right of homosexual couples to be married. As a political figure, Obama is often compared to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and to John F. Kennedy (two central figures in terms of the civil rights movement). In some ways his being elected to the high office is portrayed in the media and the minds of some as a sign that we have completed the journey Dr. King so eleoquently spoke of in his "I have a dream..." speech and in no way am I attempting to minimize the historical significance of the 2008 Election or the struggle for equality by African-Americans; but I would like to recognize the hipocrisy of recognizing the movement toward equality of one minority group while the rights of another a trampled.

In some ways we have progressed so far... while in other ways we have so far to progress.