JAMES, from Page 4

and export it around the nation is the foundation of much of it.

I am not full of gloom-and-doom about the future of America. My grandfather, father or any of the 10 generations preceding them in our roughly 400-year sojourn in America would have loved to walk the political and social landscape I am in. My duty as an African is to honor their spirit by making sure the generations ahead live in a world full of far more opportunity than I have in 2012.

CHARLIE JAMES has been an African-American-community activist/ writer for more than 35 years.