For blacks, a 'dream' partly fulfilled

High school freshman Latrell Harvey says he's "actually living" Martin Luther King's dream of a society in which one's prospects aren't bounded by skin color. The African-American hopes to go to college and doesn't expect much to stand in his way beyond his own ability.

By many indicators, it's never been better for blacks in America. Nearly half are in the middle class, and 80 percent graduate from high school. Some 47 percent own their own homes, many in suburbs where they couldn't have purchased a house when Dr. King stood at the Lincoln Memorial in 1963. "The status of African-Americans in the United States is immeasurably improved," says David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "Are there still a lot of very poor African-Americans? Yes. Is there discrimination against African-Americans? Yes, especially in ... criminal justice."

This week, President Bush said, "Racial prejudice is a reality in America," even as he spoke against racial preferences in university admissions.

Other challenges too, have been rising. Violent crime is up sharply from the 1960s in urban areas where many black children grow up.

Other social indicators are also headed in a direction that often bodes ill for children. "The most important single change for children in DC is that back at the time of King's death, about 1 in 3 children were living with their mothers only; today, it's more like 4 in 5," says Stephan Thernstrom, a history professor at Harvard University. Black two-parent families earn only about 13 percent less than those who are white.

The progress and challenges for black Americans are evident in the view from Cesar Chavez Public Charter School for Public Policy, here in Washington.

For Latrell and other students who take a study break to talk with a reporter, color lines still run deep in their views of everything from politics to shopping at a mall. They notice when they're "looked at funny." There are parts of the city where they won't go and never expect to live. They laugh about it, but there's a flash of anger. It hurts.

They also are aware of Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott's recent remark that seemed to endorse segregationism. They're glad he is no longer the Senate Republican leader.

But they wonder why he is still in the Senate at all.

If the country were back in those days, "I'd be in jail or dead, because when I see something wrong I say it," says Nicoisa Young.

"Back in 1956 or '58, when my mother was born, whites would be on one side and blacks on the other. If you went to the hospital, you might not get help," says Courtney Evans, who is a 10th grader.

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