By: Elijah Herington

Tuesday night as I discussed the importance of new President-elect Barack Obama with a friend of mine, an overwhelming sense of pride for our country stirred inside of me. Our country has overcome the racial issues of our dark past and progressed into a new time of racial equality. We have finally become the unified nation that our forefathers fought to found. Our America has progressively shed the ugly guises of religious oppressor, sexist bully, and racist to show her true beauty.

Barack Obama will begin leading our nation on Jan. 20, 2009, and I hope on that day you will celebrate our country's transition into a new age of equality and unity. My friend, Ian, reminded me of Gov. George Wallace's protest on the steps of Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama in 1963. Can you believe a mere 45 years ago our nation would have allowed such a man to, uncontested, use such scare tactics on the black community?

Although Gov. Wallace's protest against the merging of the black and white communities is most definitely not the only in our disgraceful past, it serves as a morbid reminder for our battle toward racial equality.

Each of us has a right to our own political view, but do not let this hinder you from recognizing this momentous culmination of the racial struggles of our past. Barack Obama will begin leading our nation on Jan. 20, 2009, and I hope on that day you will celebrate our country's transition into a new age of equality and unity.