If we want to stop racism and treat all races as equal, then shouldn't we let go of the past?

If it is okay to call Bush a chimp, then it should be okay to call Obama a chimp. I get that in the past referring to blacks as apes was a way to degrade them, but that was the PAST. If we want to get over racism, then don't we need to move on from the past and treat all races the same?! If we keep giving blacks special treatment because of what happened to them a century ago, how are we ever going to look at them as equal?