Is racism still a major problem in America?

President Barack Obama certainly thinks so.

He said that racism is in our DNA, really.

If racism is in our DNA, doesn't that mean it's immutable,

unchangeable, but America has changed,

and dramatically so.

In 1960, 60% of Americans said they would never vote

for a black president.

Almost 50 years later, the black man who said racism

is in America's DNA was elected president,

and four years later, reelected.

That's only the most obvious example of racial progress.

There are many others.

Take interracial marriage.

As William H. Fry of the Brookings Institution wrote,

sociologists have traditionally viewed multiracial marriage

as a benchmark for the ultimate stage of assimilation

of a particular group into society.

Black white marriages were still illegal in 16 states

until 1967, and a 1958 Gallup poll found

that only 4% of Americans approved of black white marriages.

Today, that number is 87%.

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