![Gwen Ifill talks with Steve Barnes of the Arkansas Educational Television Network in 2009](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/7e51bde/2147483647/strip/true/crop/280x150+0+0/resize/880x471!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmediad.publicbroadcasting.net%2Fp%2Fkuar%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fcard_280%2Fpublic%2F201611%2Fsteve-barnes-gwen-ifill-2009.jpg)
With the passing of veteran Washington journalist Gwen Ifill this week, we look back on a 2009 interview she did with Steve Barnes of the Arkansas Educational Television Network.
She'd just released a book that concluded Americans were no longer voting primarily based on race.
KUAR's Karen Tricot Steward examines how her expectation that a new generation of black politicians would come forth and appeal to voters didn't come to fruition during her lifetime.
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