I write to honor young Terrence & many other public school students like him in the two cities I have known -- Manila & New Orleans. The brutal facts of poverty, violence & frustration can be found in the 55 (out of 117) New Orleans public schools deemed "academically unacceptable" by high-stakes test administrators pre-Katrina]. The label & the facts, though intended only for the schools, stick deeper into the children's souls, & function like deranged emperors who delight in burning their dreams & futures. The collision of Terrence's & his killer's "deferred dreams" connect in profound ways to similar collisions I had seen working as a community organizer in the slums of Manila. Yet every time I am with them, a resilient sort of power rises -- inspiring & fueling me as a teacher & an activist -- as they all say to me in the words of the poet Rubin Alves: "Hope is the hunch that the overwhelming brutality of the facts that oppress & repress us is not the last word.". References. Adapted from the source document.