It is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which means that politicians who share very little of the civil-rights leader's moral vision champion him as if they were kindred spirits.

On this holiday last year, President Bush heralded King's "courage, dignity, and moral clarity." Recalling King's dream of an America where people are judged by their character rather than skin color, Bush said, "America has come far in realizing Dr. King's dream, but there is still work to be done."

And in 2002, Bush proclaimed: "Americans can proudly say that we have overcome the institutionalized bigotry that Dr. King fought. Now our challenge is to make sure that every child has a fair chance to succeed in life. That is why education is the great civil rights issue of our time."

Education is, in fact, a great equalizer. But it is not the only barrier to universal equity in the United States. It would be presumptuous to declare that Dr. King would concur, but we believe the evidence suggests that he would.

Ethnic minorities have indeed come a long way in the last four decades. But it is wrong to conclude that they are marching into the promised land.

Today, about 80 percent of African-Americans over 25 have a high-school diploma, and 17 percent of same age group had attained a college degree. Those are record highs.

Meanwhile, the dream of owning a home remains elusive. About 75 percent of whites own their own home, compared to only 48 percent for African-Americans.

In Colorado, African-Americans compose 22 percent of prison inmates, which means they are disproportionately imprisoned — by a factor of four.

Today, African-Americans compose about 12 percent of U.S. population, but they make up 24 percent of those living below the poverty line. Whites compose 75 percent of the population, but only 10 percent of those living in poverty.

The lack of economic opportunity helps to explain why African-Americans compose 26 percent of the Army's enlisted personnel — meaning that they hold a disproportionate share of the lowest-ranking and most dangerous positions.

As he condemned the Vietnam War in 1967, Dr. King framed it as an issue of social justice. "I knew that America would never invest the necessary funds or energies in rehabilitation of its poor so long as adventures like Vietnam continued to draw men and skills and money like some demonic, destructive suction tube. So I was increasingly compelled to see the war as an enemy of the poor and to attack it as such."

King continued, "We were taking the black men who had been crippled by our society and sending them 8,000 miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia which they had not found in southwest Georgia and East Harlem."

Emphasizing that he was deeply and equally concerned about Vietnamese victims and U.S. troops, King dwelled on the plight of our soldiers: "For it occurs to me that what we are submitting them to in Vietnam is not simply the brutalizing process that goes on in any war. ... We are adding cynicism to the process of death, for they must know after a short period that none of the things we claim to be fighting for are really involved."

Last week, the Bush administration announced that it was ending its search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The president's original rationale for war was thus decisively cast aside. And the words of Dr. King indict today's leaders as convincingly as they did yesterday's.

© 2005 Daily Camera

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