It stands to reason that in our country, a black person that accomplishes anything does so after overcoming many more hurdles than a white person. This is undeniable, Americans are still by and large prejudiced. A good portion of Americans still look at a black person and see someone different, and this itself is an act of consequence which inevitably creates hurdles for people of all races. For instance, one black person within a group of white people will face social attitudes that are different than the attitudes the individual white person will be faced with in the same group. The same will hold true for a white person within a group of black people. People inherently react to differences in others, and there are many differences among people of all races. Skin color is the most prominent, and therefore the first difference to which any individual will react to. Our population in the US is predominantly white, so the reactions to differences will be felt by those that are not perceived to be white. Because of this, minorities will have many more hurdles to deal with than white people, simply because the chances of encountering situations where these reactions will have an effect are greater for the minority.

It has been that way, and will remain so unless the white population ceases to have the majority of individuals. Enlightened or not, this is still a reality for society here in the US, so it is amazing that someone could use the fact, that the president elect is a black man, as a rationalization for the statement that there are no more hurdles for minorities. Yet this is exactly the reasoning this guy uses, in the following exchange, to snatch the hope that some day things will be different in this country from minorities.

Anderson Cooper: I mean, if he does become president, and it still is an if, does anyone know what this means in terms of change of race relations in the United States, or perception of?

Bennett: Well, I'll tell you one thing it means, as a former Secretary of Education: You don't take any excuses anymore from anybody who says, 'The deck is stacked, I can't do anything, there's so much in-built this and that.' There are always problems in a big society. But we have just -- if this turns out to be the case, President Obama -- we have just achieved an incredible milestone. For which the rest of the world needs to have more respect for the United States than it sometimes does.

I can see this reasoning used as an excuse by people looking to actively discriminate.

On another note, there is a story here that puts on display for all the world to see the heights people will go when motivated by greed. If this is not a good argument against the policies of the recent administration, then I don't know what would be.