Now that we've had time to let it sink in that Barack Obama will be the first African-American president, it's time to deal with the implications of this historic election for American race relations. Some observers have already hammered a marker into the road of history that designates the past as "Before Obama" and time going forward as "After Obama." As they see it, After Obama is the period when racism is no more. But they are letting the bright light of Obama's election blind them. We've got a long way to go in race relations.

Changes that have ensued from milestones in American race relations -- from the Emancipation Proclamation to civil rights legislation -- unfolded gradually. The problem with viewing the most recent historical event as a clean shift from Before Obama to After Obama is that we fail to see just how much race still defines inequality.

Consider that the average African-American can expect to live five to six years less than the average white person. According to the CDC, murder is the leading cause of death for black males between the ages of 15 and 34. FBI statistics show that the number of reported anti-Latino hate crimes has increased by 40 percent since 2003. The murder rate is 18 times higher for blacks than it is for whites. Princeton sociologist Devah Pager has shown that black job applicants with a clean record do no better searching for a job than similarly qualified white applicants with a criminal past. Most blacks and Latinos attend segregated schools that are underfunded and overcrowded. And, according to a 2006 U.S. Census report, the number of blacks and Latinos living in a prison cell is more than three times the number living in a college dorm room. None of this is going to simply vanish now that we have entered the After Obama period of American race relations.

To be sure, there has been significant progress in race relations, and Obama's election is evidence of how far we've come. Race did not prevent nearly 67 million Americans from casting their vote for a black candidate. And after he takes the oath of office, things will probably get better. Having a black president (and a black first family) will likely soften racist attitudes. Dozens of news reports since the election provide anecdotal evidence that young minorities are now more optimistic about the role that they can play in American society.

But things have never gotten better because we were content to rest at the most recent milestone. We shouldn't be seduced into thinking that this milestone marks our arrival at racial equality. Instead, we should see Obama's election as a marker that points us further down the road. That means putting teeth back into the Justice Department's civil rights division. It means keeping a close eye on hate groups that foment violence against nonwhites. It means creating educational and economic opportunities for minorities -- especially poor blacks, Latinos and Native Americans -- so that they may realize all that they now see as possible because of the election of our 44th president-elect.