"[By] The Right Reverend Herbert Thompson, Jr., Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio".
"Copyright 2001 Herbert Thompson, Jr., St. George's Day, April 23, 2001". -- p. [20].
"It is an extraordinary paradox. We have made such progress in America. We stand alone as the world's only superpower, economically and militarily. Our relative standard of living is the highest known in human history. The boats of all have been lifted by the economic and political tide. America is the gold standard by which practically all countries measure themselves. And many of us have been privileged to witness our movement from legal segregation to the far more open society we enjoy. But as the song says, 'We've still got a long way to go'. The more things change, the more some things remain the same. America's prisons and their particular populations are evidence of an enduring reality. They are the leading edge of the continuing fault lines of the racial divide that runs all across our nation". -- p. 14-15.
Statement produced in response to the 7 April 2001 shooting of Timothy Thomas, a 19-year old black man, by a white policeman in Cincinnati, Ohio.