Black History Month is a time not only to honor our past but also to survey the progress yet to be made.

Why does the black underclass continue to struggle so many years after the civil rights movement? Martin Luther King dreamed about an America where women and men are evaluated on the basis of character rather than skin color. The fight for equal dignity, however, was derailed by a quest for political clout and bling.

The goal of equality measured by outcomes, sought by means of government-directed racial inclusion programs, overshadowed the more challenging campaign for true solidarity based on widespread recognition of the inherent dignity of all people.