If Obama Wins, Is The Civil Rights Struggle "Over"?

Originally Posted at Too Sense:

You've probably figured this out by now, but for the clarity of this post I need to say outright that I am an Obama supporter. I see in him something very different from the normal, accepted political order. Even if he loses, his candidacy is a significant milestone. I never thought I would see the day when a candidate for the American presidency was criticized for not being black enough.

With that being said, I am troubled by some of the potential implications of an Obama presidency. Specifically, I think that there is a fair chance that certain people will try to use the fact that Obama reached the White House as an opportunity to declare that the struggle for civil rights is over. I can see people patting themselves on the back, feeling good about America's progress in race relations, and proceeding to assume that everything that the civil rights movement fought for has been achieved.

Affirmative action? What do you need that for, Obama is President! Isn't that enough?

Reform the drug laws? Obivously the system isn't biased like you say it is, there's a black man in the White House!

Voting Rights Act enforcement? The election system must be working for you, there's a black President!

What more could you people possibly want? We put one of you in the White House!

I hope I'm wrong about this. I hope that an Obama presidency does not become an excuse to shirk off the very difficult work that America still has to do with regard to race relations. I hope it stands as an incentive to do more, not as a rationale to do less.

But I know American history. And let's just say it doesn't make me optimistic.