Reading is a Lifeline for Black Students

I was listening the other day about the test scores of children in China. They were higher than anything in America and around the world. People here are worried that Asian kids will dominate the business world in the coming decades and that America's kids won't be able to compete and sustain. I agree with that concensus however; there is more to it than that. What about Black kids? If America is worried that White kids are falling behind and won't be competing on a global scale, what about the kids who are behind now? If Black kids are not reading they certainly are not excelling in the math, science, and technical areas. If you are not smart enough to understand what this scenerio means for the future of our kids, something is wrong.