Barack Obama: Coalitions of a Purple Mandate

Even as we celebrate President Obama it is vitally important to remember and acknowledge that Americans continue to suffer from two traditional problems-historical myopia and dichotomized thinking particularly as it pertains to race and gender. Race continues to play a most potent role in American culture although we have yet to move beyond the quintessential black/white dichotomy in a manner that accurately and clearly begins to delineate the many shades of race.