We live in an information and knowledge-based economy.

No one should be denied the opportunity to get an education and increase their earning potential based solely on their inability to pay for a college education.

We can continue our progress as a Nation toward the promise that all people are created equal and that our Nation will treat every person in that spirit.

Obviously, there has to be a profound change in direction. Otherwise, interest on the national debt will start eating up virtually every penny that we have.

So, the struggle for equal educational opportunity continues.

The Federal prison population has increased more than 7-fold over the past 20 years.

In fact, the Harvard study data indicates that 70 percent of African American children attend schools that are predominately African American, about the same level as in 1968 when Dr. King died.