The GOP tidal wave has painted the nation an obdurate red, with Republicans grabbing control of the Senate and gaining control of Congress because they also increased their numbers in the House. More troubling, the Republicans took significant gubernatorial victories, including in a couple of prominent blue states.

Closer to home, the Republicans have grasped control of the state Senate, and that portends several setbacks for measures promised by Gov. Andrew Cuomo—who bested his opponent handily—none more important to New Yorkers than women’s equality and the DREAM Act.

But what happened?

In the last days of Democratic campaigning, Black Americans were told that several key elections depended on their vote—once more that cry of desperation of Black voters to the rescue! Well, with or without being energized by President Barack Obama, who, as he noted, was practically “sidelined” from the midterms, Black voters did their part. However, it was much too little, too late in most of the critical races.

One of the main things that happened, as much as we can perceive it, is a general anti-Obama backlash, a reaction in which the GOP commanded the narrative, a particularly negative one, and put Democrats on the retreat, even from their own leader. And the president certainly did not help the situation with his vacillation on foreign policy, the inefficiency of the rollout of his Affordable Care Act and the snafu with the Veterans Affairs Department and civil liberties encroachments.

Even so, the gargantuan gorilla in the room is, as always, racism. We know the nature of partisan politics in this country—a perennial divide between Democrats and Republicans—but the experiment with a Black president has tested this division like no other, and it seemed to make little difference to voters that employment is on the rise, that the economy is on the road to real recovery and that millions who did not have health care now have coverage.

If this midterm election is a referendum—an indication that things are going to be even worse in 2016—there is little room here for optimism. What we can expect is an even more determined effort on the part of the GOP to put the final nail in the coffin of the Obama administration.

One scrap of good news Black Americans can gather from this recent round of voting comes with a caveat. A Black Republican, Tim Scott of South Carolina, was elected the first Black senator from the South since Reconstruction. Will Hurd becomes the first Black congressman since reconstruction elected in Texas. And Mia Love (Utah 4th Congressional District) is the first Black female Republican ever elected to Congress. It makes you wonder the extent to which Black voters helped in this victory.

Anyway, the nation has become a dreadful red, but we can join Rep. Charles Rangel, state Sen. Bill Perkins and a few other local notables who held on to their posts and will continue to fight for affordable housing, quality health care, accessible education, immigration reform and a demand for higher wages. Also, we hope some of our elected officials share our dismay about the governor’s Women’s Equality Party and how it hampered the Working Families Party’s drive to get a better row on the ballot.

And these items should be on our agenda as well.

Yes, the nation is red, but we ain’t dead! The struggle continues.