There is no doubt that slavery, like no other issue in U.S. history, has soured our great American story. In our first 250 years the USA has been able to build power, wealth, influence and spread democratic principles, despite black people, as a whole, being socioeconomically unequal. My fear is that in the next 250 years, if we do not heal this inequity, this weakness in our foundation will lead to our ultimate ruin. Maybe foreign nationalistic forces or religious narratives can exploit this weakness and tear our country apart. At the same time, if we can finally build a society where blacks enjoy the fruits of our success on an equal basis, then we can lead the globe for centuries more. So ultimately I believe black inequality has now become our most important national security issue, as well a moral necessity.
I love this country and the ideals promulgated in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. I believe these ideals are the real American dream truisms. Therefore, patriotism demands that we fix the problem. The first step to creating racial equality is to create racial literary equality. Blacks will never be socioeconomically equal until black children read with confidence in equal proportions as other races. Years ago, because of the agrarian nature of our past economies, people could be illiterate and still live a happy and relatively prosperous life. This is no longer the case. It is extremely unlikely that a person can be illiterate in the modern day and still be successful. Consequently, black children must read with confidence and proficiency.
So it is clear, step #1 to achieving racial equality is to have black children read better, so that is why we are reading with as many kids as possible and trying to build a movement where reading with confidence becomes ingrained into black culture.
– Todd Hoover