Passing through the Atlanta airport one morning, I caught one
of those trains that take travelers from the main terminal to
their boarding gates. Free, sterile and impersonal, the trains
run back and forth all day long. Not many people consider them fun,
but on this Saturday I heard laughter.
I know we’re supposed to avoid making racial distinctions
these days, so I hope no one will mind if I mention that most
people on the train were white, dressed for business trips or
vacations – and that the father and son were black, dressed in
clothes that were just about as inexpensive as you can buy.
There are parents who can afford to send their children to Europe or
Disneyland, and the children turn out rotten. There are parents who
live in million-dollar houses and give their children cars and swimming pools,
yet something goes wrong.