Racism remains a problem in the United States, although it has taken on different forms than in the past. Racism or racial discrimination - when properly defined - applies to any skin color or racial group which is being discriminated against. Many Americans think of racism strictly as the mistreatment of Americans of African descent because of the color of their skin. In the past, racial discrimination in this country was disproportionately practiced towards blacks - during the slavery period and afterward (when they were denied civil rights). But today racism is this country is no longer the exclusive domain of blacks. It exists throughout our society, with blacks who are racist towards whites, whites who are racist towards blacks, blacks who are racist towards other blacks, as well as many other ethnic or racial groups who are discriminated against (Hispanics, Asians, Jews, Native Americans,etc…).

I disagree with the term “reverse discrimination”, since it is simply discrimination. The term “reverse” is suggesting that blacks are the primary group for discrimination, and anything else is in reverse. That logic makes no sense. All discrimination - on racial or ethnic grounds - is wrong. And it is wrong not only when applied negatively - as in “Blacks do not work hard, so I will not hire one”, but also when applied positively as we often saw in the last election. Millions of Americans voted for a man for President primarily because of the color of his skin. I am not suggesting that anyone who voted for Obama is a racist, BUT anyone who voted for Obama for no reason other than the fact that he is black IS a racist. According to surveys done during and after the election campaign, many of the respondents admitted that they knew little about Obama’s policies or accomplishments, and were voting for him primarily because it made them “feel good” about voting for a black man. Now that is “reverse discrimination”, if you want to call it that, otherwise known as pure racism. Terminology aside, the problem clearly exists in this country.

We will know that this country has moved beyond racism and racial discrimination when the media stops commenting on the color of someone’s skin when they run for office, and stops defining political groups of citizens by their race. There is something inherently wrong with the fact that over 95% of blacks voted for a black man for president. While that does not make all of them racist, there is reason to believe that many of these people voted for him only becuase they share his skin color. Of course, this is also true for many whites - who voted for Obama becuase he is black, or those who may have voted for McCain becuase he is white. But if we continue to treat racism as if we are still in the slavery era, when it was assumed that only blacks can be discriminated against, we will never solve the problem. Its time to start evaluating people by what they bring to the table, rather than their outward appearance or racial makeup. Hire me for a job because I am qualified; marry me becuase your soul matches mine (not my skin color);vote for me becuase you like my policies. If we were at that point, we would not even take notice of the President’s skin color. As long as we are talking about it, we know the problem still exists.