Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.
(America never was America to me.)

Thus begins a poem written by Langston Hughes during the Great Depression. Toward the end of the poem, Hughes, a poet known for portraying the life of blacks in America from the 1920s through the 1960s, writes:

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath –
America will be!

Political theorists put it much less elegantly. They make a distinction between civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism. From this perspective the U.S. Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision in 1857 that declared "the black man has no rights the white man is bound to respect" excluded African Americans from the civic nation. Roughly 100 years later, the civil rights movement forced recognition of their legal rights as citizens, but they remained excluded from the ethnic nation.

During America's history, the idea of "nation" has actually been a highly specific subject constructed from its antithesis, as Hughes outlines in his poem and writes: "There's never been equality for me, Nor freedom in this 'homeland of the free.' " That antithesis has at times been the immigrant or the feminine but has always been the black. The conception of the national "we" has constantly been reshaped over the years to incorporate a broad diversity of ethnicities as American. Yet blacks somehow remained outside as the "other." No better example can be found than the civil rights movement itself, which was often described as a great victory for African Americans, not all Americans. Nov. 4, 2008, might well be remembered as the day black Americans achieved ethnic citizenship. "They" became "we."

As Hughes wrote, "Let America be America again – the land that never has been yet – And yet must be – the land where every man is free."

Barack Obama ran a campaign directed toward a land that never has been but, in the process, brought it into being. He had to have faith that America was color-blind even though he knew that it was not, and through his faith he made it more color-blind than many of us thought it could be. Of course, the imperative to be color-blind only makes sense if we assume that to perceive color automatically leads to hierarchies of value. To say we don't see color continues a situation in which African Americans remain the only group in American denied ethnic honor and in which whiteness remains the unstated cultural norm. To his credit, Obama did not ignore race and in his most important campaign speech in Philadelphia sought a true interracial dialogue about its meaning and history.

To be sure, it took a "perfect storm" to get him elected. All the ingredients were present: an extraordinary candidate, a well-financed and brilliantly directed campaign, and an opponent tied by party to the most unpopular president in modern times. Still, after the nominating conventions, the candidates were in a dead heat despite the fact that four-fifths of the population thought the country was moving in the wrong direction.

The catalyst that brought all the ingredients together for an Obama victory was the near-collapse of the stock market and the onset of a global economic crisis. As Americans lost their homes and jobs and saw their retirements disappear, many began to switch to Obama. They stopped worrying about Obama's middle name or what church he attended, and started worrying about their own economic self-interest. Only then did the content of Obama's character overcome the color of his skin.

The symbolism of Obama's victory is both manifest and unknown. Its ramifications will unfold over months, years and even decades. Substantively, Obama's victory might be considerably more modest. To end two wars and return confidence to the economic markets would seem to be success enough. Obama's promise to redistribute wealth to the middle class might be too much to ask. Still, it reverses the redistribution to the upper class started by Ronald Reagan, continued by President George W. Bush and promoted by John McCain.

Neither McCain nor Obama said one word about redistributing wealth to those most in need – the growing numbers of poor people (the highest in the developed world). Can we really expect peace and prosperity while maintaining a permanent underclass? Can we afford to put more of them in jail when we already have the largest prison population in the world?

Let's remember all of Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream. It didn't stop with the content of the individual's character. Many like to freeze King's legacy in place at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. Yet King moved beyond individual prejudice to tackle what he called the triple evils of militarism, racism and poverty. Electing Obama and ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq give us a head start on the first two. Let's not forget the third. After all, they are linked. Racism and war have been major causes of global poverty. Let America be America.

Charles P. Henry is a professor and chair of African American studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author and editor of seven books and dozens of articles on black politics, public policy and human rights.