Wake up call: racism is not over. That we as a nation were able to elect a half black president does not mean that racism is not still a VERY serious issue throughout the country. So acknowledging this grand achievement in the aim toward equality of race is to say "yes, this is great, but we have a way to go." There is still a tremendous economic disparity between races that needs to be addressed, for instance. I would go on but I have to go watch the Daily Show now. Peace.
!Disclaimer! opinion follows:
We have come a long way though. The economic disparity between races is not so much a racial issue, but is just what you said: an economic issue. It's not that people are unwilling or object to helping the lower classes because they're of a different race. I firmly believe that in today's society, many Americans are less willing to help people of lower status regardless of their skin color or ethnicity (i.e. there are poor white families who suffer just as much as poor blacks, albeit fewer of them).
Now, this is not to say that racism didn't cause this disparity. The reason that so many blacks are of a lower social class is specifically because of years of racism and oppression. When slavery was abolished the blacks were left with nothing. They thought they were getting forty acres and a mule (wouldn't that have been grand); instead, many of them went back to work as servants because they had nothing else. This put them on a road to inevitable misfortune and poverty.
The problem today (that I, frankly, can sympathize with) is that many whites (of higher social classes, mind you) don't feel responsible for what their ancestors did. And they shouldn't feel responsible; they didn't do anything. Regardless of whether or not a certain percentage of whites in this country still harbor a bias (subconcious or not) against blacks, I still believe that today the issue is far more economically rooted than racially. If (hypothetically) the government could find a way to substantially fund poor black families, I highly doubt that the white elite would say "Don't give them money; they're black." As long as it's not their money, I think people just don't care.
I would summarize all this by quoting and correcting Kanye West, who said "George Bush hates black people." That's just not true. He hates poor people.
