On Black Identity in the Obama Era

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Polls find many black Americans seeing the election of Barack Obama as a good portent for race relations in the U.S. This doesn’t mean, though, that black Americans all believe race has ceased to be a defining characteristic for them — a point made vividly by an ABC News poll fielded in December and January.

One of its questions asked black respondents: “In your own personal identity, do you think of yourself as black first, as American first, or what?” While 51 percent picked “American first,” 39 percent opted for “black first.”

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