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I think it's hard to understand this if you don't grow up as a minority. To see someone who looks like you be accepted and recognized by society is very self-affirming. It's like finally you have registered in the collective consciousness, and people like you are seen as real individuals rather than caricatures or shallow stock characters. I am of Asian descent, born and raised in Toronto -- there's no shortage of Asian people here, but it's still rare that you see Asians in the media or in the public sphere. So when I see somebody like Grace Park in Battlestar Galactica, or John Cho in Harold & Kumar -- characters that aren't the usual kungfu-y laundromat Chinese food delivery clarinet-playing nerdy sidekick -- my heart does a little happy dance. When Adrienne Clarkson (née Poy, born in Hong Kong) became Governor-General of Canada, I felt very proud. The current GG of Canada is Michaëlle Jean, who immigrated to Canada as a child from Haiti -- another absolutely beautiful black woman.
It is not that you can't relate at all to people of other races, but it's almost a relief to finally see yourself represented.
