In answer to my own question- "Yes" and, in many unfortunate ways- "No."

It’s easy to forget that, in spite of many Americans selecting Barack Obama as President of the United States, there are still plenty of people who are resistant to change.

The assumption may be that the election of an African-American to the highest office in the land means that prejudice is now null and void. While it certainly proves that many positive strides have been made, the sad fact is that there remain some people who stick to narrow-minded concepts, regarding issues of race.

These individuals are apparently quite unhappy with the outcome of the 2008 election, as some recent news stories illustrate:

College Football Player Disses New President-Elect

An appalling example of this is the remark entered by one Texas Longhorn football player on his Facebook page, following the election of Obama.

According to reports, the lineman stated, ""All the hunters gather up, we have a (racial epithet) in the White House", the epithet being the despicable term often used to label African-Americans.

Obviously, this guy didn’t think about the fact that his words would be seen by millions of Facebook visitors and he has been kicked off of the University of Texas football team.

What in the world was he thinking?

He has, since, apologized and claimed that he is "not a racist." That remains to be seen, but, you have to wonder how a guy, with these types of warped sentiments, managed to play on a team for so long, in which a number of his fellow teammates were African-Americans.

Students in Mississippi Persecuted for Mention of Obama’s Name

Reports of students being ousted from school buses and young athletes being threatened with suspension from their teams just for daring to speak Barack Obama’s name may sound totally absurd to most sane Americans.

According to the ACLU, however, some students and their parents in the state of Mississippi have been making complaints that they have been prohibited from bringing up the President-elect’s name outside of history class.

The supposed reasons given for this by one school system memorandum is that they want to keep the election results from being a "divisive event."

Apparently, some portions of the "New South" are still hanging on to "Old South" traditions.

Increase of Hate Crimes

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate group and their activities in the United States, noted that there was a rise in hate crimes, in the time just preceding and right after Barack Obama’s election.

Spurred on by irrational fears and paranoia, some individuals are choosing to take out their frustrations on innocent people.

Some recent examples are homes of people of color being vandalized with hateful slogans and racial epithets, crosses being burned in the yards of African-Americans or interracial couples, Latinos being beaten up randomly, nooses hanging from trees and vehicles, etc.

There has been increased interest from some individuals to join hate groups and their internet sites are receiving more traffic every day.

The outlook doesn’t seem very encouraging, as the Southern Poverty Law Center expects the number of such incidents to escalate in volume and, possibly, violence.

Can Anything Be Done?

Sadly, we cannot force others to be more accepting of diversity, but we can speak up against hate crimes.

Hopefully, the voices of those who welcome change, instead of being afraid of it, will be louder than those who want to bring our nation down with deplorable actions and threats against others.

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