On that terrible day, a nation became a neighborhood. All Americans became New Yorkers.
I came from a two-parent household and my father is a PhD from west Africa, but at the same time I grew up five blocks from where Obama lived and five blocks from the projects.
I credit a lot of my success to being from Harlem, growing up there.
No child's future should ever be dictated by what zip code they were born in.
I think people tend to live, whether they like it or not, influenced by what's next door to them.
As every real estate agent knows, a poor house in good surroundings will sell for a higher price than a better house in poor surroundings, and in a town they confidently ask 25 percent more rent for a flat with a view of a park that for an identical flat with no view.
The stakes are geopolitical in nature and I believe that democracies are - people want to live in free societies, democracies are the best way to do that, and that if people see democracies in the neighborhood, they'll demand the same thing.
When you live in a community where people know you, it makes you want to be good and decent. It's a strong influence.
Philadelphia merely seems dull because it's next to exciting Camden, New Jersey.
