The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates

Moore and his friend Justin attended the Riverdale County School, a “predominantly white private school” with a proud history (49). Even though it was located in the Bronx, it was “its own little island of affluence” (47). The Moores couldn’t really afford the school, and his mother was scared. In regular public schools, “Things were falling apart, and the halls of the school were no exception or refuge from the chaos outside” (47). His “mother saw Riverdale as a haven, a place where [he] could escape [his] neighborhood and open [his] horizons” (48). Moore’s mother worked several jobs to meet the family’s increasing expenses.

His mother had every right to be frightened. To further illustrate the dangers of his Bronx neighborhood in the early 1980s, Moore provides some startling details about drugs, namely crack, which had “[placed] a stranglehold on [the Bronx]” (50-51). It was easily accessible and taunted those of all ages and circumstances. The deaths that came about because of it were of one “single demographic: young black men” (51).

Though Riverdale seemed like a solution, it was still difficult for Moore, who constantly felt like an outsider among his rich white peers. He emphasizes how much poorer he was than his fellow students, recalling how he had to rotate his “good clothes” and avoid talking about how he “summered.