Martin Luther King's dream was for a lot more than a day off in January. But the federal holiday does gives us a chance to reflect on the great civil rights leader, and how his efforts have led to an America of greater equal opportunity and racial harmony.

Where we are is far from perfect, though many Mainlanders would say Hawai'i is as good as it gets in America.

The latest U.S. Census numbers for Hawai'i put Asians at nearly 43 percent; whites, 25 percent; Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, 8.6 percent; Hispanics, 7.9 percent; blacks, 1.7 percent.

With no one race a majority, we've blended magnificently, with those claiming two or more races at more than 20 percent of our population. That's a number 10 times higher than the U.S. overall.

In many ways, Hawai'i is America's race or demographic future, where the issues go beyond black and white.

Yet all our blending hasn't eliminated racism, which is capable of emerging from all the sharp angles in our kaleidoscopic society. In Hawai'i, whites are as likely to encounter discrimination as any other minority. That's not what Dr. King meant by equality.

It all serves as a reminder that even in paradise, on this special holiday, when we think of race, progress and the seminal figure of civil rights in America, we must not stop dreaming.