people!

than the good things. It's unfair, but it is very real.

I sat there day after day, drinking in the atmosphere of the place-the smell of the books, the feel of them, the easy chairs. The way of life that the library symbolized-the commitment to knowledge and the leisure to pursue it-struck a chord in me that still resonates. I wanted all this for myself and my

course of a lifetime) for each of us. Someone has to be and wants very much to be the accountant. Another wants to do mergers and acquisitions and has a talent for that. Still another wants to be a lawyer for a while, then switches gears and becomes a writer. That is what the movement I had devoted a good part of my life to was all about: working

For twenty years, I had been on a mission, part of a movement designed to bring black people into full citizenship. What did that mean, if not that blacks on an individual basis would be free to chart their own courses in life-to figure out for themselves what role they

If I learned from State v. Johnson the limits of law in a society unwilling to do justice, Holmes v. Danner taught me that sustained social agitation, moral suasion, and political action can create an environment in which people in power feel compelled to do the right thing.

Even with that, the attitude expressed in the Meet the Press interview is alive and well, most annoyingly among some white people who can say the most amazing (and utterly revealing) things to black people, thinking they are entitled to because their hearts are in the right place.

frank and honest discussion of what really matters to us, where we actually are, and where we want to go in the world. Members of the public (and I am particularly concerned about young black people) too often fall for the posturing and take it as evidence of real political commitment or, even worse, effective political action. And it is all an

life in general: Make the most of what you have at the moment, do the best you can when it counts, and hope and expect good outcomes from your efforts.