Tomorrow, the Kansas City Chiefs will officially announce the hiring of Herman Edwards as its now head coach. This comes as a surprise to no one, because just about anyone who follows pro football knew that the Chiefs would land Edwards, even though he is still (officially) the head coach of the New York Jets.

And although no one has noted this fact for the record, Edwards will be the first black head coach of the Chiefs. There's a reason no one is noting this fact: No one cares.

Well, that's probably overstating the case. I'm sure some folks care, but they're being quiet right now. Chances are the moment when it became "normal" for a black man to coach an NFL team was a few years ago, when Tampa Bay fired Tony Dungy, with the immediate result of him becoming the hottest coaching commodity in the NFL at the time. He ended up in Indianapolis, and finished second in the balloting for coach of the year this season--right behind Lovie Smith, another black head coach.

I think everyone will agree that it's more remarkable that a man named "Lovie" could be named the NFL coach of the year than a black man earning that honor. The average fan doesn't care about the race of the coach. The average fan cares about winning. And that's exactly as it should be.

Of course there are exceptions. The Boston Red Sox waited 20 years or so after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball to sign its first black player. The new movie Glory Road tells the story of how Texas Western (now known as UTEP) beat all-white Kentucky with an all-black starting line-up. In 1967.

Plenty of companies still don't like to hire black or female executives. It's their loss. As a society, it seems we're becoming more comfortable with the idea. Condoleeza Rice is frequently mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2008. And while plenty of people quibble with her politics or experience, I haven't heard or seen anyone say she'll have a problem because she's black or because she's a woman. Polls show that most Americans are comfortable with the idea of a black or female (or both) president. Morgan Freeman has played the president in a movie, and Dennis Haysbert played the president on the TV show 24, and I don't recall anyone saying this was unrealistic.

I say all this as we approach the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday as a way of saying that America is a better country than it was 50 years ago. That's the good news.

The bad news is that black people are much more likely to be poor than white people. That's not so much a vestige of slavery as Jim Crow (or its unwritten northern counterparts). Segregation kept almost all black people poor. And poor people are more likely to reject education--most often because they feel threatened and mistreated by educated people--and thus remain poor. Breaking this cycle is difficult, something that probably cannot be accomplished at a governmental level. In fact, King himself was grappling with this very problem right before he was assassinated, and from everything I've read, he didn't have any solid answers either.

So we keep trying. Local schools work that much harder to get all parents involved in schools. Colleges and universities recruit and make exceptions for underprivileged students in the hope that they can find their way out of the morass of poverty. A lot is being done. But it's obvious that more needs to be done.

America is not the racist nation it was 50 years ago. These days, people are much more likely to discriminate on the basis of economic class rather than race. Look around the middle-class suburbs of the burgeoning South and you'll see a sea of white and brown faces shining back at you. Sure, most everyone drives an Acura or Lexus or minivan, but there is significant racial diversity to be found. Economic discrimination isn't "better" than racial discrimination, but it makes more sense. It is possible to change one's economic status, no matter how hard that is in reality.

I live in a town where race is important. Durham is a diverse city--more diverse than most. With no dominant race, we all have to work together, even as some dingbats try to keep us apart. It's encouraging to see that the dingbats seem to be losing the battle. Slowly, but surely, black, white and (now) Hispanic Durham is coming together. And while it's nice that professional sports is recognizing the skills of black coaches, the things going on in places like Durham are more important. How we live our lives is what counts.

So, yeah, we're doing better. But there's still work to do. In all likelihood, there always will be. Can we create a society that recognizes, but doesn't judge, color? Probably not. But we ought to try.

Jon Worley decided to see the glass half full this week.