Thomas E. Perez is the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the United States Department of Justice. His talk is entitled "Advancing Equal Opportunity for All: Civil Rights in 2010 and Beyond."

Our nation has undeniably made great progress toward fulfilling the promise of equal opportunity and equal justice.  But our remarkable achievements are milestones along the path rather than the culmination of our journey.  Discrimination and bigotry persist in blatant forms - burned crosses, burned churches, hate-fueled assaults - and in subtle, yet equally devastating, forms.  We see it in our education system, where many children still go to substandard schools. We see it in the foreclosure crisis, where communities of color were all too frequently preyed upon by lenders who used the corrosive power of fine print to transform the American dream into a nightmare.  We see it in the workplace, where glass ceilings continue to shatter opportunities despite great gains.  In 2010, the Civil Rights Division is working to tackle both the longstanding challenges to equality, and the emerging issues that stand in the way of fulfilling our nation's greatest promise.