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Our children need to see and hear about more black role models in many fields so they can make better choices.

Kids that I went to school with didn't know how to interact with black people like that. There were only, like, three or four black kids in the class.

I don't totally believe that all of the politicians see a problem with the gap between the scores of black children and other groups. I believe that many politicians think this has been the way it has always been, so what's the problem?

Black women's feelings of responsibility for nurturing the children in their own extended family networks have stimulated a more generalized ethic of care where black women feel accountable to all the black community's children.

You have little representation of young black men in the business sector, so you have children growing up in disadvantaged neighborhoods who don't hear discussions at the dinner table about what goes on in business. It's almost as if we have two nations.

I have a father who was the first black student at his junior high and high school and had to do a lot to get to that point.

When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.

I feel like kids in general, not just African-American kids, are influenced by what they see, both positive and negative.

That reasonably intelligent and well-meaning young people are willing to call white black is a matter of concern. It raises questions about our ways of education and about the values that guide our conduct.