And this must apply especially to young people. It is just half a century since someone like Barack Obama would have had to ride in a separate place on the bus in the segregated south of the country he now leads.
We have, nevertheless, to be a little cautious in our celebrations and the very different role model Obama represents. He may epitomise the American Dream but young black people in the US still have a massively disproportionate probability of ending up in prison rather than in higher education. Their lives remain blighted by poverty and unequal opportunities. Racism is still rife; there was talk that significant chunks of the white working class who traditionally voted Democrat would turn against Obama, unable to entertain the thought of a black man in control.
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