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This ambiguous answer does not minimize the remarkable accomplishment of electing a person of color. The nation overcame what only a generation ago had been considered to be an insurmountable barrier.

At a personal level, this achievement has transformed the way I see the nation and renewed my faith in the struggle for greater social and economic justice. The election outcome did not usher in a post-race era, but things have changed.

I take away three lessons related to race relations. The first is the continuing power of racial classifications. Obama has an African father and white mother, but he was portrayed as a non-white. As my colleague and friend Michael Omi would like to remind me, race is socially constructed.

The second lesson is that many would put aside race under the right circumstances. As other commentators and analysts have noted, there were two uniting factors: the deep and widespread disenchantment with eight years of Bush, and the economic crisis rooted in the failure of the financial sector. I put my money on the latter as the deciding factor because the convoluted financial instruments that produced the meltdown also tied many Americans to a common fate, one that temporarily diverted attention away from race.

Finally, race has become more complex. The Latino vote, and to a lesser extent the Asian vote, became salient during the election. They had been important in earlier elections, but there was a qualitative jump in importance this time around. Who knows how the new multiracial or multiethnic configuration will play out over the next few years.

Obama and his win have created new opportunities to further redefine race and to tackle racial inequality. The hard work to implement change is in front of us.

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Obama's win provides us with three lesson in race relations

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