There have only been a few times in my life when I've really felt like I was witnessing "A Moment" - not just a news story of the day like msot previous elections ahve been but something that makes you really stop and think to yourself that you're witnessing History with a capital H and something that is going to profoundly change things. I had moments like this when I watched the Berlin Wall come down, I had one on September 11, 2001 when my mother called me and told me to turn on the TV. And I had one on Tuesday night when tens of thousands of people streamed into the main square in my city, danced on cars, drank champagne in the streets, hugged strangers and partied all night long, not over a sports victory or something fleeting and temporary but over an election.

And I think that the reason we all saw that significance, that sense that something special had occurred had everything to do with race. If Obama were white - even with the exact same ideas, intelligence, rhetorical skills, etc. - the victory would ahve been seen as welcome relief from the last 8 years but not much beyond that.

I live in a part of the country where racial tensions have been high from its founding. I live in a city where statues of Confederate generals are in our streets and parks and where it's not uncommon or particularly noteworthy to see a Confederate flag flying from someone's home or affixed to their car. A city with a tennis club that at one point would not allow one of the greatest players of all time, Arthur Ash to play on their courts because he was black. A city where older black people actually remember not being able to vote and who, on Tuesday, stood in line for a couple hours in some cases, took their kids to see how far things had progressed.

Standing there watching the results come in, there were black folks with tears running down their face. Others took their babies and were telling them that this now proves, once and for all, that race will not be a barrier anymore, that nothing can hold them back. There was a real sense that this barrier that had existed for so long had finally and permanently been shattered. Someone was saying that he likes that we'll no longer ahve to hear about "the first black president" or "the first black coach to win a super bowl." That they'll no longer be seen as historic or noteworthy, jsut a fact of life, no more significant than when a white guy is elected president or a white guy coaches a team to a super bowl victory.

And I have to say, I was caught up in the moment and really believed this. i guess what I'm wondering is if I'm being naive. HAS this proven that race is no longer a barrier? Is affirmative action really no longer necessary or justifiable when we jsut elected a black graduate of Columbia and harvard to the most powerful job in the world? Should Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton find a new line of work?

There will always be racism but mostly from the fringes. From angry, strange hateful people with no credibility to whom no one pays any attention or gives any respect. It's always been here and always will be. But in the broader, mainstream sense, have we now put race behind us? Have we finally overcome?

I hope so and I'd like to think so.

What do you guys think?