I grew up in the southern United States in a city which at that time during the late '40's and early '50's was the most segregated city in the country and in a sense learning how to oppose the status quo was a question of survival.

I feel like my work has been my path to freedom from having grown up in a segregated environment.

In the Brown decision the United States Supreme Court unanimously struck down the legal and moral footing of racially segregated public education in this country.

We are now operating a school system in America that's more segregated than at any time since the death of Martin Luther King.

Despite the amazing diversity we're blessed with in this country schools are still in large part segregated because of economic disparity. Sports are one of the few areas where kids are really given the opportunity to interact with those of different races and religions.

I saw how many people were poor and how many kids my age went to school hungry in the morning which I don't think most of my contemporaries in racially segregated schools in the South thought very much about at the time.