A university is more than the sum of its ethnic parts. It is comprised of individuals — black, white, Hispanic, Asian and others — who should be admitted or rejected without their race or ethnic heritage making any difference.

Ronald Reagan signed the legislation making Martin Luther King’s birthday a national holiday in November 1983. In January that year, public opinion was divided, with 47 percent in favor of the holiday and 48 percent opposed in an ABC News/Washington Post poll. In an October 1983 Harris poll, however, 59 percent supported it.

In 2011, does black political inclusion really still depend on protecting black candidates from white competition in race-based districts?

The District of Columbia's mayor-in-waiting, Vincent Gray, argued during the campaign that he could be a powerful agent of reform, due to his deep neighborhood ties and ability to more effectively bring the community along, and if he was right he could bring to fruition the remarkable work that outgoing mayor Adrian Fenty began.

If Barack Obama gets more than half the black vote and a quarter of the white vote, and if black turnout is high, then Hillary Clinton's campaignwill be in trouble.

Until the Iowa caucuses a year ago, most blacks rejected Barack Obama in favor of the Democrat who could win.

Old mindsets die hard--all the more reason for the president to become the "post-racial" voice his campaign promised, even if a "post-racial" America remains largely an aspiration.

Barack Obama's election seemed to signal a fading away of identity politics, but he himself has made identity politics news again with his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.