Ruth’s grandparents migrated to New York from Puerto Rico but her family has not lived the
“American dream.” Her father, who was incarcerated on drug charges and died of HIV/AIDS, was
never really part of her life. While Ruth was in fourth grade, her stepfather, a Viet Nam veteran
who had been exposed to Agent Orange, died of a liver-related disease. For much of her childhood
and adolescence the family depended on public assistance.
Ruth and Samuel have been a couple since they were 14-years-old and students in junior high
school. They believe their relationship with each other was the most important element in their
survival and success. After attending a suburban college they returned to live and work in the
Bronx. They now have two children and are both teachers. Ruth teaches mathematics at a magnet
secondary school (grades 7–12) for gifted youth in the African American community of Harlem.
Samuel is a social studies teacher and the dean at the Bronx high school he attended as a teen-
ager. In these essays they explain what made it possible for them to survive and succeed against
the odds.—Alan Singer
***I Am Tired of Seeing Black and Latino Students Not Succeeding
By Samuel Charles
I grew up in the Bronx three or four blocks from Edenwald projects. Edenwald had a really
bad reputation. There were shootings there and drug dealers. I grew up in the late 1980s and
early 1990s when crack was big time. Some of my friends had older brothers who were big-
time dealers with reputations in the community before they went to jail. Two of my best
friends got locked up after an accident in a stolen car. I never stole cars, but I rode in them
because it was something fun to do, not something that we thought of as criminal.
My brother was involved in drugs and violence. He was younger than I am, but he was a
tough guy. Everybody in the community knew him and knew not to mess with him. I was into
sports, but he thought money was glamorous. He liked to have a wad of money. My brother
went to a special education school and was suspended numerous times. He had to go be-
cause of his behavior. He could not read well and teachers did not help him out. I think he
felt, “I can’t do this work, why am I even bothering to try?” He became a street kid and there
was no one home to stop him. He was an angry guy and when he turned 21 he got in heavy
trouble with the law and was sent “upstate.”
There were no organized gangs like the Bloods and Crips are today. We defined our iden-
tity by the block where we lived; every block had its own “posse.” I was involved in fights
with my posse, but we did not have guns. As a teenager, I was part of the Five-Percenters.
The group was quasi-religious and philosophical. You joined this group because you were
searching for knowledge of self as a young black male. A lot of us did not have fathers at
home, so we turned to people who seemed to have knowledge of the world like the Five-
Percenters and the Nation of Islam.
One of the things that made a difference for me was that I had confidence in myself that I
was able to do the schoolwork. I had the ability, so when I was motivated I experienced suc-
cess in school and wanted to do it more. School was like a game for me; when I was winning I
wanted to play more. But if you keep losing you lose your zest to want to play and give up.
When teachers realized I had the ability and wanted to succeed they invested in me. My
fourth-grade teacher brought me to her house and taught me to use her computer.
When I went to junior high school I was placed in the smartest class but I forced them to
kick me out. The first day at school we were all sitting in the auditorium as they called out
each class. There were new kids that I had never seen in my life. When they called my name
with 7SPE (special program enrichment) and the kids in the back yelled, “Nerds, nerds,
nerds,” I sunk down in my chair and tried to disappear. From that day on I did whatever I
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