May 27. It now appears likely that Barack Obama will be the Democratic Party's presidential candidate and, even less certain but a possibility, the first black president of the U.S.

Even for those of us in the U.S. and around the world who correctly view the crises-ridden capitalist system, its political parties and its sham elections as the negation of democracy so far as the workers and the oppressed of the world are concerned, it is impossible not to acknowledge that the prospect of the election of a black president in the U.S.--the center of world imperialism and racism--is an historic event.