I don't mean to suggest that our hometown was perfect. We...

I don't mean to suggest that our hometown was perfect. We never thought it was, even then. Hope was segregated, like the rest of the South. It had its share of human frailty and vice. But kids were taught, growing up, to respect the dignity of each individual. There was a genuine sense of community in Hope, that crossed income lines and in many ways, race as well.