Forty years after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., substantial gaps exist between whites and blacks, none wider than the inability to look at the issue of race through the same set of lenses.

Beginning tomorrow, various conferences and panel discussions will be held across the country to focus on the status of African Americans four decades after King's April 4 death, and 40 years after the Kerner Report, issued in the wake of urban uprisings, declared that "our nation is moving toward two separate societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal."

Many civil rights activists would amend the report's conclusion slightly today: America is moving toward three separate societies, one black, one white and one brown – still separate and still unequal.
Indeed, a report from the Eisenhower Foundation has found:

* African American unemployment has continued to be twice as high as white unemployment in each of the four decades since 1968.

* The poverty rate for blacks has dropped since 1968, from 35 percent to 24 percent, but blacks are three times as likely as whites to live in extreme poverty.

* Today, 27 percent of black students attend mostly white schools, up from 23 percent in 1968, but fewer than the 37 percent in the 1980s.

A useful tool to begin a serious discussion on race is historian Eric Foner's expert's report to the U.S. Supreme Court in connection with the University of Michigan affirmative action cases in 2003.

Foner, a distinguished history professor at Columbia University, states, "The black experience has affected how other racial minorities have been treated in our history and illuminates the ways in which America's white majority has viewed racial difference."

He writes, "On issues ranging from the proper role of the federal government to economic policy, the equity of the criminal-justice system ... public opinion polls consistently reveal an enormous difference between black and white attitudes."

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll confirms that. a survey conducted Jan. 14-17 asked: "How serious a problem do you think racial discrimination against blacks is in this country: a very serious problem, a somewhat serious problem, not too serious, or not serious at all?"

Of African Americans responding, 56 percent considered the problem very serious, as against just 12 percent of whites.

Foner concluded In his court submission that "Most nonwhites feel that race still matters a great deal, and considerable numbers report having experienced discriminatory treatment in shops and restaurants, or in encounters with the police. These differences in outlook and perception are not the result of inborn 'racial' traits, but stem from the distinct historical experiences of white and nonwhite Americans. As long as the historic memory and current reality of racial inequality remain alive, so too will profound differences in how black and white Americans understand the nation's past, present and future."

Barack Obama helped expand that understanding with his speech on race and his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., his former pastor:

"I have asserted a firm conviction - conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people - that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union."

Unfortunately, very little has been done to build on Obama's speech. Perhaps that is about to change. The head of the United Church of Christ is scheduled to hold a news conference in Chicago today at Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama's place of worship, urging ministers to begin addressing the issue of race in their churches, including in sermons from the pulpit.

After Bill Clinton's effort to create a national dialogue on race failed, perhaps the best approach is to discuss race locally. These discussions can be organized by universities, churches, community groups, or any other interested party. Talking to one another and not at one another may not produce any notable results. Not engaging in a dialogue, however, guarantees a lack of success.