Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Wealth Gap within African-American community

Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s op-ed, "Forty Acres and a Gap in Wealth," was published by the N.Y. Times Nov. 18, 2007.  In the op-ed, Gates describes the importance of inherited wealth for 20 leading successful black leaders and proposes a whole host of steps that need to be taken, from increasing voter turnout to encouraging childhood literacy. 

Gates is the author of among other things: The Future of the Race (with Cornell West; a great book for seeing and contrasting the approaches of West and/versus Gates) and Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man. 

-E.R. erosser@wcl.american.edu