The News Literacy Project held a seminar on “Race and Politics in the Age of Obama” Oct. 17, the second one this school year.

Gwen Ifill, managing editor of “Washington Week” and senior correspondent for “The PBS NewsHour,” spoke with moderator Richard Wolffe, MSNBC commentator, about the role of race in every day politics.

“Some portion of everything we do has to do with race,” Ifill said to a crowd of parents, students and community members. “Black politicians are always trying to convince voters that they are more like them, than different.”

Ifill, who said she has been covering the “break-through moments” of black politicians throughout her career, said she noticed the striking similarity between the questions voters asked each African American candidate.

“Blacks always thought the candidates weren’t black enough, and whites always thought the candidates were too black,” Ifill said. “So many people told them to wait their turn, that it wasn’t their time to break-through yet.”

Wolffe added that race continues to affect elected officials because many issues have a racial subtext or cryptic coding.

On the other hand, Ifill said that it’s a misconception to think that being color-blind was the solution to all race-related concerns.