The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once observed that "injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere."
Today, as we reflect on the past, present and future of the black community, Dr. King's wise words ring as truly as ever.
February holds special meaning. During the month, and indeed throughout the year, we encourage all Americans to honor the lives of black trailblazers who have helped pave the way for future generations. We commemorate Black History Month and the advances our nation has made because of the civil rights movement.
We have good reason to celebrate the victories of the last century. However, the undeniable and indefensible economic and social disparities in American society compel us to look honestly at the challenges that confront America's minority families.
The job market in America is a very tough neighborhood. Roughly 9 million of our fellow Americans are without jobs. About 5 million are working part time when they'd rather have full-time employment. The manufacturing sector has lost more than 2 million jobs in the last three years and has suffered job losses for 42 consecutive months.
Minority households have borne the brunt of our so-called jobless recovery. In January, for example, the national unemployment rate fell to 5.6 percent. However, unemployment in the black community rose to 10.5 percent, more than double the white unemployment rate of 4.9 percent.
The challenge for middle-class families is not limited to jobs. Black families have seen their median household incomes fall by 3 percent, nearly twice the reduction experienced by white families (1.7 percent). And studies show that the wage gap between whites and minorities has widened in the last 40 years.
Why the decrease in household income? It is because there is an increasing disparity in pay between the jobs that our nation is losing and the few that are being created.
The fact is, after the creation of 22 million jobs during President Clinton's eight years in office and a decrease in disparity, economic inequality is back with a vengeance.
The solution lies not only in creating new and better jobs for all Americans, but also in addressing the continuing disparities in our educational system.
Today, less than 80 percent of us have completed high school. In comparison, nearly 90 percent of white Americans have high school diplomas. Only 17 percent of black students earn college degrees, while 29 percent of white students complete college.
Resolving these disparities means investing in Head Start, fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act and increasing after-school programs for our young people. February is a month of commemoration for blacks. But it's also a time to critically examine the issues that continue to face our nation and minority families. So long as there is work to be done, we should never be content to rest on our laurels.
(Steny Hoyer, the Democratic whip in the House of Representatives, represents Maryland's 5th Congressional District. Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, heads the Congressional Black Caucus and represents Maryland's 7th Congressional District. Kweisi Mfume is president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.)