Photographs of the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita evoke images of the purported “Third World,” where men, women and children of color are seen as homeless and in dire need of food and medical assistance. Commentators have suggested that the disproportionate number of African-Americans in this Gulf Coast disaster reflect the vestiges of discrimination – and even slavery. The question that arises is, after more than forty years of civil rights laws, how far have we really come?

In 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. This landmark legislation banned discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, and national origin in such areas as employment and public accommodations and in programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance, including colleges and universities. In the following year, President Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, a presidential order that requires nondiscrimination and affirmative action by employers holding federal contracts. The Nixon Administration, led by the late Labor Assistant Secretary Arthur Fletcher, strengthened this order by requiring goals and timetables and by instituting a Philadelphia Plan to promote employment opportunities in the construction industry. The Voting Rights Act was enacted in 1965, and the Education Amendments of 1972 were signed into law, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender in educational programs or activities receiving federal financial assistance.

In 1978, the United States Supreme Court handed down the landmark decision, Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, which ruled that diversity in higher education admissions was a compelling state interest and constitutional. For twenty-five years, majority colleges and universities followed Bakke in diversifying their student enrollments. The Bakke decision contributed to the creation of a generation of African-American college graduates and leaders. Self-described beneficiaries of affirmative action include former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Indisputably, there has been progress for African Americans in employment, education, government and business in the past forty years. In the United States Congress, the number of African Americans has increased from 13 black members of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1969 to 43 Members in 2005, including one US Senator. The current Secretary of State is an African-American woman - a historic appointment. Compared to whites, the number of African-American officials and managers in the civilian workforce has increased from 6.8% *261,405) in 1998 to 7.7% (296,318) in 2003. The images of African Americans in the broadcast industry abound and there is a handful of African-American CEOs working in Fortune 500 companies.

In higher education, there were 1.9 million black students enrolled in the United States, 11.5 percent of the 17 million students enrolled in higher education in 2002. According to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, this is the highest level of enrollments for African Americans in history. In enrollments, the gap between blacks and whites is decreasing from 9.6 percentage points in 2002 to 7.9 percent in 2003.

As the images of Katrina victims boldly attest, however, forty years has not been sufficient to erase the vestiges of slavery and race discrimination in the United States. the nation's unemployment rate for African Americans was 10.8% in 2004, 2.3 times the rate of 4.7% for whites. African Americans have achieved 57% of the economic status of whites, and according to the National Urban League, unemployment is the primary factor. The income gap between African Americans and whites is intolerably wide (in 2004, $30,134 vs. $48,977) and the gap has changed little over the past 35 years.

The glass ceiling for blacks in corporate America has barely been cracked. Moreover, the number of race-based discrimination charges filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission continues to predominate compared with the other bases, including gender and age discrimination. In 2004, race discrimination complaints (27,696) constituted 34.9% of charges filed.

Mega-discrimination lawsuits, including cases filed against Coca-Cola, Texaco and Boeing, continue to be filed on behalf of African Americans. The complaints in these lawsuits include failure to promote equitably, compensation discrimination and racial harassment.

Notwithstanding the continued complaints of discrimination on the basis of race, the past decades have shown an increased intolerance for affirmative action and other efforts to close the opportunity gaps in America. Lawsuits and policy initiatives have emerged to end discrimination remedies. Using the language of the civil rights movement in a perverse way, organizations have challenged affirmative action as a form of discrimination against Caucasians and others.

Proposition 209 in California, which outlawed affirmative action in the public sector, and the Gratz and Grutter v Bollinger cases against the University of Michigan are vivid examples of the movement to stop progress and exacerbate the racial divide that persists in the 21st Century. Fortunately, the unusual coalition of corporations, military leaders and civil rights organizations who filed amicus curiae briefs in support of the University of Michigan demonstrates that there is ample support for diversity in higher education - for the benefit of the workforce and the nation. Unless there is a substantial change in American attitudes towards race, the will to vigorously enforce the civil rights laws, and and end to inequalities in elementary and secondary education, however, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's suggestion in Grutter that affirmative action should not be necessary in 2028 will remain an elusive goal.

In forty years since many of the nation's civil rights laws were enacted there has been substantial progress for African Americans. National statistics and the images of the Katrina disaster have shown, however, that much more is needed to overcome the effects of centuries of discrimination and to make civil rights laws ultimately unnecessary.

Ms. Wilcher is Interim Executive Director, American Association for Affirmative Action. She is also CEO of Wilcher Global LLC, a diversity management consulting firm. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, US Department of Labor. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, the New School for Social Research and Harvard law School.