recently graduated with a degree in English from Bryn Mawr College and now works at a publishing house in New York

Of course, I would like to believe that Americans are becoming color-blind in the same evolutionary way we first stood on two legs - but that just isn't the case. Race will be an issue as long as gender is an issue: Just look at all the anti-Hillary press. I went to a women's college at which diversity was valued as highly as education itself. Many of the faculty, students and staff made a conscious effort to raise racial and ethnic awareness every chance they got, and you know what? It heightened sensitivity, but it didn't spawn vast, sweeping change immediately. We're taking baby steps. I need to believe this election is the biggest step yet in changing the American viewpoint. With a woman and a person of color running for office, there is hope.

Kamala Lane

is a senior at Rowan University majoring

in print journalism

As long as ignorance abounds in people's hearts and minds, race will continue to be an issue that drives a wedge among us. Although all human beings share a certain range of experiences, there are circumstances - historical and current - unique to certain racial groups. We ought to have understanding and compassion for the issues and viewpoints of all races. If we understand and support one another, we can deal with those who threaten to sabotage our progress, instead of allowing them to divide us.

Yashas Vaidya

is a junior at University of Pennsylvania concentrating on the world economy

History sometimes holds countries and peoples hostage, as it has done to America. Even as the country enters new political territory - the possibility of electing a president who is not a white male - the last few weeks have shown the weight of its past.

The inertia of history is hard to overcome, as is the socioeconomic structure of society. As Sen. Barack Obama pointed out, "[L]egalized discrimination" meant that "black families could not amass any meaningful wealth to bequeath to future generations." Sadly, the ramifications will exist long after the discrimination itself has ended. "The past isn't dead and buried," Obama said in his speech, quoting Faulkner. "In fact, it isn't even past." As an issue, race will remain alive and well in America for some time to come.

Sean Coit

is a junior at St. Joseph's University

and editor of the Hawk newspaper

The future of race in America is, I hope, a quiet one.

Regardless of your politics, the presence of a legitimate African American presidential candidate is a significant sign of progress, but Obama's candidacy is not the end goal. True progress will be made only when a second, third and fourth generation of viable candidates emerge from underrepresented groups, and as less attention is paid to their race.

Obama's accomplishment will be felt most by those who follow him, who need present themselves not as minority candidates, but simply as candidates like any other.

The end of racial tensions in America will come when the issue is a nonissue, and when the whole conversation is no longer necessary.

Kiley Austin-Young

is a sophomore at Penn majoring

in English and economics

In his March 18 speech in Philadelphia, Sen. Obama rejected the "post-racial" label and endorsed an important idea: Race is a real issue and it matters. It is perhaps unrealistic to expect - as many idealists have come to - that the United States would move beyond racial resentments in our lifetime. One reason is the legacy of fear and humiliation left by historical injustices. Another reason, as Obama acknowledged, is the reality of white racial consciousness. The resentments voiced by working-class whites who oppose affirmative action will prove to be an equally strong barrier to moving beyond race. The question to be answered April 22 is not whether these resentments exist, but which candidate will best address them.

Aileen Bachant

is a junior at Rowan specializing in journalism and majoring in print, editing and broadcast

Black, white and brown - colors no kid would pick first out of the crayon box, but colors that must be recognized as critical in American politics.

We, as a nation, have come a long way. But the color of one's skin still plays too much of a role in how people are perceived.

Outrageous and inflammatory racial rhetoric - such as that demonstrated by Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - are patent forms of racism. And unfortunate assumptions about race permeate our election process, as can be seen in all the candidates' strategies. Candidates campaign knowing which demographics and regions hold which values, and they strategize accordingly. Race still divides us as a nation, affecting one's stance in society and one's chance to prosper, and that will not change in my lifetime.

In a country where a candidate can be labeled "too black" or "not black enough," race continues to be influential.

Nicolle Morales Kern

is studying journalism at Drexel University

When we describe people in the future, it will not be necessary to mention skin color. We will have realized that we all belong to one and the same race: the human race. Ascribed genetic, physical and mental differences among people of varying skin tones will no longer be relevant. Within the next 40 years, de facto racism will join de jure racism in being prohibited. A person's skin color does not reveal where he is from or what her ethnicity is. Skin color will never disappear, but the significance we give it will, and our mentality will finally reflect reality.

Nicole Lister

is a political science/pre-law major

in a B.A./J.D. program

at Rutgers University in Camden

Race is the elephant in rooms all across America, the tender spot we are either too PC to discuss or too passionate about to abandon. There is almost no middle ground when it comes to race. More and more, I notice, however, that Americans are promoting an open dialogue on it, no matter how sensitive or vehement the conversation may be.

There are more mixed families on television than before, which shows that the nation welcomes this dialogue. My only hope is that it continues. Has it come as far as it ever will? I don't know. But consider this: What if your white daughter brought home a black man? Or what if your black son brought home a white girl? The very fact that I can ask these questions suggests how far we've come, but the fact that I have to ask suggests how far we have to go.

St. John Barned-Smith

is an English major at Penn hoping to be

a national/international sociopolitical reporter

Barack Obama said, "Race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now." He is right. When he says that schools remain as segregated - if not more - than the 1950s, he is right. And when he explains why current white America feels resentment for something it believes it had no part in creating, he is also right. But a "racial savior" he is not. As every Philadelphian must know, Obama will no more single-handedly mend America's race problems than I will. This is a universal task we must all embrace. Our government must find teaching methods that finally close the education gap between white and black students. Blacks and whites must take a hard look at their prejudices and anger, acknowledge them, and get past them.

Karen Shuey

is a senior at Temple University

majoring in news/editorial journalism

Race will always matter - as long as government ignores the solution. While most people would like to believe the color of one's skin doesn't play an important role in one's life, it does. We've made great inroads against social discrimination - but our leaders pursue policies that are effectively, if not intended to be, racist, and that continue to keep minorities at a disadvantage. Politicians are not burning the midnight oil devising a plan to improve the quality of inner-city education. And while poor minority youths are spending their days killing one another, legislators are too busy taking shots across the aisle to notice. Racism won't go away until those in power change policies of inequality.