Q: Every article and press release about you mentions that you’re 30, and the youngest African-American ever to get tenure at Harvard. And because of a magazine article a few years back, some really personal details—your parents’ failings, your own youthful drug dealing, your beloved great-aunt and uncle running a crack cocaine business—are now public. Do you wish that weren’t the case?

A: I’m so glad it’s out there. Obama did this as well. If you get it out there, I think the American public is . . . “forgiving” isn’t the right word, I don’t know if I need to be forgiven for anything, but now I don’t have to hide anything. And it actually makes me relate to the kids [I study] in inner-city schools in a real way; a lot of them are dealing with the issues, unfortunately, that my background describes.

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