4 Loyola teens found identities

After assassination and riots, `light bulb went off' for students

He became an expert on government policy and environmental justice, only recently returning in part to the topics that riveted him 40 years ago.

Every so often he descends to his basement and pulls from a shelf his high school yearbook. Leafing beyond the formal portraits of earnest young men in bow ties, he focuses on a single image: the foursome, clad in jeans and T-shirts and proud Afros, striking bold poses before a burned-out East Baltimore rowhouse.

For March, the photograph was a statement: This is my life.

Moore says he was declaring a commitment to fighting injustice. For Foreman, the photo was a way to show his connection to those less fortunate. Even today, he realizes how privileged his Loyola days were. Without them, his life could have taken a bleak turn.

Grounded in their rebel stance, the teens were asserting a new conviction about their identity as black men. At that moment, they weren't sure where it would take them.

[e-mail]