Mary Harris - Lacewell : Barack Obama 's election celebrated as racial triumph . She says it represented real progress in the field of politics . Rather than being solely on the margins of national power , black Americans , through the person of Obama , have achieved a new kind of citizenship more empowered to recreate American race . Harris - Smith : In many other areas , issues of race are significant .
Mary Harris - Lacewell : Barack Obama 's election celebrated as racial triumph . She says it represented real progress in the field of politics . Harris - Smith : In many other areas , issues of race are significant .