Hurricane Katrina ripped the mask off of the poverty and festering racism and what I call the 'new slavery,' the pipeline to prison so many youth experience. Yet our national attention span is abysmally short. Kirk Franklin and CDF are in this battle together for the long-term. We look forward to joining ranks with millions of Americans to stand for justice for children and the poor.

The persistent and growing high level of child poverty reflects conscious and misguided choices, ... How can the Bush Administration and Congress give enormous tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans who have benefited most from the economic recovery while threatening to cut the budgets for Medicaid, Food Stamps and other programs that assist poor children who continue to be left behind?

Far less wealthy industrialized countries have committed to end child poverty, while the United States is sliding backwards. We can do better. We must demand that our leaders do better.

A lot of people are waiting for Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi to come back - but they are gone. We are it. It is up to us. It is up to you.

You didn't have a choice about the parents you inherited, but you do have a choice about the kind of parent you will be.

Somehow we are going to have to develop a concept of enough for those at the top and at the bottom so that the necessities of the many are not sacrificed for the luxuries of the few.