Yes, I was there then, and as involved as I could be, given who I was: a grad student, white, at nearby (to Chicago) Northwestern University.  (more)

Three or four years ago, a black college official at Wayne State U. in Detroit, a mostly black town, startled me by saying, “I know one thing: The world has always been divided into black people and white people, and it always will be.” … (2001.4.7)