Obama and Race: Where We Are and How We Got Here

In a few days, America will swear in the first president who identifies himself as black. In the early days of the campaign, when no one thought Obama had a chance, there was discussion among the "lions" of the civil rights movement on whether Barack was "black enough." Early in the campaign, people like Al Sharpton questioned whether he was authentically black and later on Jesse Jackson said in a very colorful way that Barack was "talking down to black people." Both men have since gotten onto the president-elect's team, but there was a feeling that Barack Obama was an upstart, half-white man who had not paid his dues.<br /> <br /> I am a lifelong Southerner who is old enough to remember desegregation of schools, but not old enough to remember segregated water fountains. I am the first generation of integration and in the South we talk about these things â

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