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The State of the Dream 2004: Enduring Disparities in Black and White

Introduction

"There is nothing new about poverty. What is new is that we now have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real question is whether we have the will."

--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sermon at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC

March 31, 1968

The question we face today is whether America has the will to address inequality and racism.

The racial divide stands in sharp contrast to the legacy of Dr. King, a man who has become the symbol of America's moral conscience.

Utilizing such diverse indicators as income, wealth, homeownership, poverty, unemployment, and infant mortality, this report looks at the gap between the legacy of Dr. King and the America of 2004.

Progress since Dr. King was killed in 1968 has been painfully slow. In education, one finds the most hopeful signs of Blacks achieving equality with whites. African Americans have improved greatly in educational attainment, but these efforts have not been fairly rewarded with the levels of employment and income received by their white counterparts.

King's comment that "the Negro still lives in the basement of the Great Society" is still valid for today. The basement might have been refurbished, but it is still the basement. To change America into a country no longer marked by a racial caste system will require a new commitment to the legacy of a man we commemorate every year. We need to honor him not with platitudes, but with social policy that brings his vision into reality.

We need to be conscious of the state of racial disunion in the richest, most powerful nation in the world. Dr. King's critique at a 1967 peace rally still holds true today: "(O)ur nation has not yet used its vast resources of power to end the long night of poverty, racism, and man's inhumanity to man."

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United for a Fair Economy • Racial Wealth Divide Project 3