When I Was Young, I

The First Ten, Twelve Or Fifteen Years Of Life Are Excavated Of Inherent Moral Worth In Order To Accommodate A Regimen Of Basic Training For The Adult Years That Many Of The Poorest Children May Not Even Live To Know.

The Primary Victims Of Katrina, Those Who Were Given The Least Help By The Government, Those Rescued Last Or Not At All, Were Overwhelmingly People Of Color Largely Hidden From The Mainstream Of Society.

We Continue, However, To Write About Important People, Prize-winning People, Blacks Of Grandeur, Women Of Great Fire, Fame Or Wit. We Do Not Write About Ordinary People.

During The Decades After Brown V. Board Of Education There Was Terrific Progress. Tens Of Thousands Of Public Schools Were Integrated Racially. During That Time The Gap Between Black And White Achievement Narrowed.

I Write Books To Change The World. Perhaps I Can Only Change One Little Piece Of That World. But If I Can Empower Teachers And Good Citizens To Give These Children, Who Are The Poorest Of The Poor, The Same Opportunity We Give Our Own Kids, Then I'll Feel My Life Has Been Worth It.