Barack Obama, Ethnicity | featured news

Ask Americans how race relations have changed under their first black president and they are ready with answers. Ashley Ray, a white woman, hears more people debating racial issues. "I know a lot of people who really thought we were OK as a nation, a culture, and now they understand that we're not," she says.

An Orange County Republican Party official who sent an email that portrays President Obama's face superimposed on a chimpanzee with the words: "Now you know why -- No birth certificate!" apologized for her action but insisted she's not a racist.

MSNBC's Chris Matthews says President Barack Obama has done so much to heal racial divisions that he "forgot he was black" while watching his State of the Union address....

President Barack Obama had a tough-love message for fellow African-Americans on Thursday, urging black parents to push their children to think beyond dreams of being sports stars or rap music performers.