I met this remarkable young man today at Hannan House, the senior learning center where I've been working on a photo essay since last June. Imani was there doing community service during his mid-winter break. I happened to hear him ask Larry, with whom he works, "Do you want to hear the poem I wrote? It won me a $20,000 scholarship to college." This is Imani's poem:

BLACK LIFE

Anger, rage, no compromise, stubborn headed-ness are all a young black man's demise.

Failing to realize the greatness Dr.King seen in all of our eyes.

Instead we choose to do drive-by's and scrutinize to hide our insecurities that arise.

Blood and violence chosen over peace every time.

Father against son, mother against daughter, why can't we just coincide?

Our ancestors were taken out of slavery but its still in our lives.

Blaming the white man for our lives, but by that ignorance we're blind.

And by knowledge we can see, all we have to do is take advantage of it.

Because now knowledge is free!

By: Imani Ruffin
age 15
Kettering High School
Detroit, Michigan


You never know when you're going to meet a true original. For me, it came 80 years and 1 day after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born, and 4 days before Barack Obama, America's first African-American president will be sworn in. How appropriate.

[portrait background: William Szaro's painting, "The Whistleblower."]