Fifty Years-- A Dream...

Today the mall in Washington D.C. will be filled with folks who have come to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a Dream" Speech. It is worth listening to these many years later.


King challenged the U.S. government and the American people to live up to the high ideal that all men were created equal, which meant more than white Episcopalian male land owners. All men being equal in fact should mean all males and females regardless of race and gender. We certainly have made progress from fifty years ago, but there is still plenty of work to do.

A recent Pew poll reveals that a majority of the American people rightly realize that racial equality is yet to be a complete reality.

Not surprisingly, the disparities in the poll fall along racial lines, which proves the point, I think, that more needs to be done. Pew concludes.

The analysis finds that the economic gulf between blacks and whites that was present half a century ago largely remains. When it comes to household income and household wealth, the gaps between blacks and whites have widened. On measures such as high school completion and life expectancy, they have narrowed. On other measures, including poverty and homeownership rates, the gaps are roughly the same as they were 40 years ago.