Giving Compass' Take:

• In this impassioned op-ed at the 74, Dr. Howard Fuller discusses how honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy means advancing education opportunities for poor black students.

• This is primarily an argument for school choice, but how can we address the root causes of inequality that still plagues our districts? 

• Here's what the research says when it comes to charter schools and segregation.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The central quality in [black peoples’] life is pain — pain so old and deep that it shows in every moment of [our] existence. It emerges in the cheerlessness of [our] sorrow[ful] songs, in the melancholy of [our] blues and in the pathos of [our] sermons. Black people while laughing [are shedding] invisible tears that no hand can wipe away. In a highly competitive world, [black people] know that a cloud of persistent denial stands between [us] and the sun, between [us] and life and power, between [us] and whatever we need.”

When I think about the condition of so many poor black people and their children, this pain is still their reality. Today’s pain is not new for black people. But sometimes the pain and the scars reach down and touch the very depths of our souls.

Read the full article about fighting to make schools work for our poorest families by Dr. Howard Fuller at The 74.