 I've met with people who called me, in effect, Uncle Tom, who've told students don't take my classes because I'm a sellout, pathetic black mascot of the right. That's what one of my colleagues called me at one point along the way. And that stings. I've had family members, uncle, my mother's brother, whom I loved, tell me at one point, son, we could only send one from the South Side up to Harvard and MIT. We sent you.