The race/class thing is a complicated one, and I think in the US at least, race is an indicator of where in the class structure you're going to be considered - and this is hugely problematic for the young people you work with and the ones I work with too.

I think the separation of class and race by the left is a huge mistake (at least in the UK) because it will set poor people against each other rather than encouraging them to vote in more broad socialist policies. Every niche interest group under the sun will have their own version of utopia and the political right will trounce them at elections with a simple divisive message. The economic argument is the clearest. Poverty is the enemy. A lack of decent housing is the enemy. A lack of free childcare and free medical care is the enemy. When everybody shouts and pulls the discussion in different directions, nobody gets heard..... identity politics has been the biggest boon to the alt-right since the dawn of time.

I don't know what we do about the left eating itself, but I know that the work you do with kids who the world has been unnecessarily unkind to is a huge part of the solution. . Progress will be slow and steady, because we can't inject kids with self-esteem but every young black man you teach and are able to bring back from the brink of nihilism is another little victory for a kinder world. Keep fighting the good fight, because that's the stuff that matters and what being a good human is all about.

Amen to your last sentence my friend. Let's get it done in our lifetimes. :o)