Among the kids at the Promise Academy and around the country, Walter
Dean Myers is a must-read whose books have sold millions of copies and
have a special appeal for the toughest of people to reach, boys. He is
able, like few writers, to relate to his readers as they live today.
Twenty years after the videotaped Rodney King beating exposed racial
wounds and ignited passions that eventually sparked a devastating riot,
Police Chief Charlie Beck said Thursday he's confident a similar police
beating couldn't happen again.
The nation's blacks are leaving big cities in the Northeast and Midwest
at the highest levels in decades, returning to fast-growing states in
the once-segregated South in search of better job opportunities and
quality of life.
