As a child, I used to speak to Imani on the phone. He called collect, his voice scratchy through the heavy black receiver. He reminded me to mind my parents and be good in school over the choppy line. He told me once that my name inspired him to change his and not to forget it. He was from Birmingham; so was I. He was locked up; I was up North. When he was finally released in 1991, he said it was talking to children that allowed him to keep it together after so many years.
