> Christopher is an inmate in a high-security federal prison not far from Atlanta. He’s been in trouble with the law since he was 14. He didn’t finish high school, had an addiction to hard drugs, and at age 21, his involvement in a string of armed robberies landed him in prison with a 32-year sentence.

> Right now, you’ve probably formed a mental image of who Christopher is, and you might be wondering why I’m opening my speech with his story. When you think about who does mathematics–both who is capable of doing mathematics and who wants to do mathematics–would you think of Christopher?

Francis Su's retiring address as the President of the Mathematical Association of America is one of the most powerful things I've ever seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEtDvc1SWm8

There's a transcript on his blog, too:

https://mathyawp.wordpress.com/2017/01/08/mathematics-for-hu...