I am proud to call Gwen Samuel my friend. She fights hard, extends grace, assumes best intentions, and believes in all children. She doesn’t want standards lowered for Black children—she wants us to do right by them in their schools so they can reach the same bar that we expect other children to reach. Because she knows they can do it. And so do I.

I love children. I don’t care what color they are. I don’t care about their income level. We have an obligation as adults to not harm children.

Imagine my hurt when the NAACP supported racial quotas. The NAACP was ok with discriminating against children that look like them.