Not much further to march

Joshua DuBois, former director of the White House faith-based initiative, has a feature article in Newsweek to go with the recent anniversary March on Washington. He frequently hears (and sometimes said), "We've come so far, but we have so much further to go" in terms of race relations.

But he now believes that phrase is getting in the way of progress. He gives his reasons:

* When Martin Luther King Jr. talked about "one day" when the races will be at peace, he didn't mean hundreds of years from now. He meant within a generation or two -- which has passed.

* The original march had focused goals, many of which have been reached.

* The goal isn't endless marching, but to seize the opportunities within reach.

* The percentage of black men who have dropped out of high school has been cut in half over the last 40 years. A couple percent more and it will match the white dropout rate. Within our grasp.

* Life expectancy of black people is up. Some hard work and it will match the life expectancy of white people.

* Yeah, we've lost ground in the percent of young black men behind bars. But Attorney General Eric Holder is proposing practical solutions. We can do this.

Get black youth into college with intact Pell Grants? Face down legislatures who want to disenfranchise black voters? Get rid of "stand your ground"? Reconnect black men with their families? All of this is achievable, not in some distant future, but here and now. Get to work.