The legacies that parents and church and teachers left to my generation of Black children were priceless but not material: a living faith reflected in daily service, the discipline of hard work and stick-to-itiveness, and a capacity to struggle in the face of adversity.

I worry about the kids who have too much. As a parent living in a so-called good neighborhood with children who went to private high school, I found myself spending much time in parent groups worrying about alcohol, unsupervised parties, and parents not being parents. We've got to send messages to our kids about what is important.

It is time for every one of us to roll up our sleeves and put ourselves at the top of our commitment list.

It really takes a community to raise children, no matter how much money one has. Nobody can do it well alone. And it's the bedrock security of community that we and our children need.

Whoever said anybody has a right to give up?

If things are too easy, life is a whole lot less interesting.

The crisis of children having children has been eclipsed by the greater crisis of children killing children.