Let us say that the kids in your high school—the ones who dropped out to work nights at the chicken plant, the ones who were snatched up by the tables of Army recruiters in your high school’s main corridor, the ones who disappeared into pregnancy, vocational school, alcohol, or drugs—would probably never have chosen you to be their voice, but that you spoke for them anyway because it enraged you when Columbia students attributed their life successes to hard work and talent, when plenty of hardworking, talented folks you knew were spending their days serving chicken-fried steaks and scrubbing
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