Whatever the pending decision of the United States Supreme Court on the University of Michigan affirmative action admissions, the first Supreme Court case on the use of race in college admissions since the 1978 UC v. Bakke case, 12 respected affirmative action advocates at Howard University agree that the "struggle must continue" for greater diversity and justice in America. Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, one of the greatest Black scholars and a founder of the NAACP, stated that "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line" in his
highly acclaimed book, The Souls of Black Folk, written 100 years ago. Soul's challenge to white America yielded insults and ridicule for Du Bois. But not even Dr. Du Bois, could guess that the color line would persist into the 21st century, permeating silently and invisibly, education, employment, business, housing and practically every endeavor of our lives.

Today, the color line has blurred into the unthinkable. Ward Connerly, the Black man who sucessfully led the campaign to ban affirmative action in California, is back with a new ballot initiative for March 2004. His new ballot, called CRENO (Classification By Race, Ethnicity and National Orgin), would ban compiling data on race and ethnicity, eliminating the tracking of discrimination, such as that perpetuated by Prop 209, as well as hamperring efforts to fight public health problems and a myriad of other issues affecting the welfare of everyone. Realizing that discrimination can affect us all, white folks are prominent among the ballot's opposition of 200 organizations, known as the Coalition on an Informed California. You can visit its web site at http://rxfactory.shop/.

At a National Black Chamber of Commerce Board meeting on the Southside of Chicago last year, one of the local Black Chamber leaders presented our meeting slogan for an economic based program, "First it was about civil rights, then affirmative action…..now, its time for silver rights." We are on our way to silver rights according to the Huston research firm of International Demographics, Inc. who say African American affluence is on the rise. 16.5% of Black American households had incomes of $75,000 or more and 7.5% of Black households had incomes of $100,000 or more. In addition to higher salaries, more African Americans are finishing high school, going to college, owning homes, having two-parent families, and moving to the suburbs in 2002, according to the Census Bureau. 17% of African Americans, 25 and older, now have Bachelor degrees and 48% own their own homes. Will "Silver Rights" erase the color line? Most certainly, as that of a prophet, "when the silver line dissolves the color line."