The election of Barack Obama was hailed as a national milestone. Political and social pundits celebrated the belief that America had become color blind, that race was no longer an obstacle to overcome since a minority had achieved the dream of ascending the social ladder to become head of the land of the free. Two years later, the country continues to explore the issue of race.

One of the first major flare-ups of the race question was the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. by Sgt. James Crowley. The nation fell into an uproar since a white cop had the audacity to detain a Harvard professor who just happened to be black. Obama did not help matters by saying that Crowley had “acted stupidly.” To save face, the president held what many deemed a “beer summit,” a gathering of the two men in question over some alcoholic drinks to undergo what Obama considered a “teachable moment” concerning race relations between police officers and minorities. Still, Gates and Crowley refused to exchange apologies and the affair was swept away under the national rug.

In 2010, a black Department of Agriculture official was dismissed for seemingly admitting on tape that she willfully chose not to help out a white farmer to the full extent of her authority because he had acted like he was superior to her. Shirley Sherrod, however, insisted that she had been unfairly portrayed as a racist since the edited video of an NAACP rally had cut out the rest of her speech, which innocently went on to treat her little anecdote as a lesson not to discriminate. Unfortunately, Obama backed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack’s decision to call for Sherrod’s resignation before the information was revealed. Sherrod had been crucified in the public eye, only to rise again amid apologies from the remorseful president.

Of course, Obama’s administration has engendered positive racial outcomes as well.The midterm elections of November 2010 witnessed 32 black Republican candidates running for office, a number not seen since Reconstruction. The New York Times reported that they were inspired by Obama’s election since it proved that it was not impossible “for a black candidate to win election with substantial white support.”

In 2008, Obama stood up for language study by promoting the acquisition of Spanish and other foreign tongues. Recently, the president participated in a televised forum on how the education system should help Hispanics and reiterated his belief that “it is critical for all students to have language skills.” His support for the increasing amount of Spanish speakers in the country depicts his commitment to finding new ways to help their burgeoning communities.

Whether Obama’s election has benefited or obstructed racial progress in America remains to be decided. Alongside his race neutral platform, biology has confirmed that there exists no significant genotypic differences between individuals of different skin colors that merits the creation of human subgroups. Ultimately, Obama’s victory has allowed the nation to enter a period of reflection concerning the changing landscape of the U.S. population.