"When I see young African-Americans out there and the struggles that they go through, then I connect with that. I know what that means. I know that, in the book I wrote, I mention that I dabbled in drugs or that I was acting tough. I put that in there explicitly because what I wanted to communicate was the degree to which many young men, particularly young African-American men, engage in self-destructive behavior because they don't have a clear sense of direction. But I also wanted to point out that there is a way to pull out of that and refocus, and in my case, it was tying myself to something much larger than myself--to community, to family, to God."
| That's a quote from Barack Obama, Illinois' Democratic senatorial candidate, in David Mendell's Chicago Tribune article "Ryan, Obama enter new ring"
posted in articles on March 21, 2004 10:49 AM | t (0)
« Previous phile: 'African-American science fiction authors are still in the beginning stages in many ways'
» Next phile: Most of us wouldn't recognize the shape of it if we saw it on a map.
Return to top of page