Is Racism Dying?

In an opinion piece published in today's Los Angeles Times, Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom bring up an interesting yet rarely discussed aspect of this year's presidential race: the stunning support of white voters garnered by Barack Obama. I am on record as suggesting the Democrats would have been wise to nominate John Edwards because I feared too much institutional racism still existed to allow Obama to win the general election. This year's primary results show that, so far, I was wrong.

In state after state Obama has won large amounts of the white vote, remarkable considering he's running against a female candidate who has attracted large numbers of voters based solely upon gender. He's won over 40% of the white male vote in "blue" states such as New York and California as well as in "red" states such as Utah and Georgia. Were he running against a white man as opposed to a white women, it seems reasonable to assume he would be winning like amounts of white female voters as well.

What is at work here, I believe, is that the sheer passage of time is slowly erasing institutional racism in our country. Beginning with Brown v. Board of Education, the ruling that ended segregation in our schools, and continuing with the civil rights movement of the 60's, most young people today have grown up in schools and neighborhoods that are far more diverse than their mother's and father's.

Indeed, in my neighborhood are homeowners of African American, Hispanic, Asian and Middle Eastern decent. My son's school is similarly diverse. Many of his playmates are people of color. He wouldn't even comprehend racism, much less practice it, because he has grown up in an environment in which all races are both present and equal.

And it these younger, racially unpretentious people -- of all races -- who are flocking to the Obama candidacy in unprecedented numbers, tipping the scales in his direction. Today, I not only think Obama can win the general election, I believe he will. His rise is another positive sign that racism is slowly being bred out of our country -- and a sign that, however slowly, the civil rights movement worked.