About this issue.

This month marks the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which seriously wounded the nation economically, but also brought it together patriotically. None of us will forget where we were that morning when the worst attack on American soil took the lives of some 3,000 Americans in the World Trade Center in New York and in the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. And while many of us, in our own way, are still experiencing the aftereffects of the tragedy, the heart of every member of this company goes out to the families who were directly affected by the loss. In our feature, "Surviving 9-11," we look at New York City entrepreneurs whose dreams were nearly shattered as a result of Sept. 11.

America is healing. We continue to move on with hope, faith, and a renewed sense of pride. Notwithstanding the misdeeds of some corporate CEOs of companies such as Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and a few others that are making the headlines each day, we have the remarkable resolve to bounce back As a nation, we knew that life would never be the same after the terrorist attacks. And it hasn't been, Between the attacks and the corporate scandals, we have been forced to look into a mirror and choose what values we want to hold true. And we've made our decision. In essence, just as the country wants to hold corporate CEOs accountable for their professional conduct, we have decided that individuals must also be held accountable for their personal conduct.

Here at BLACK ENTERPRISE, we are holding ourselves accountable to the young men and women who look to us for guidance and mentoring. We strive to pass on to them the values and ethics of what corporate America should be. And we start, as always, with the students in our summer intern program. We consider these talented interns one of our magazine's biggest assets. This year's class, like those before it, came through the doors of the Earl G. Graves academy eager to show off skills while learning new ones. For 10 weeks, these newly minted professionals will learn how Americans, particularly African Americans, do business in the "real world." Daniel R. Brown is a graduate from Washington University who majored in English literature. A native of St. Louis, Brown began his tenure as a law school student in Washington University's law program last month. Kimberly D. Brown is a Yale University junior studying American studies with a concentration in political science. She also volunteers in New Haven, Connecticut's elementary schools conducting creative writing workshops. Reginald Hart is a senior journalism major at the University of Maryland, College Park, who graduates this fall with a minor in economics. Christina Morgan is a senior English major at Oberlin College who once served as an arts editor for the college newspaper, as well as a beat reporter. Billy Peraza returns to us for his third straight internship. He's a sophomore studying computer science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. And Shani Smothers is a 2002 graduate of the mass communication program at Louisiana's Xavier University. Smothers began pursuing her master's degree last month at Georgetown University.

Despite of the War on Terrorism and a scandalous corporate culture, America will continue to be a great nation. It will do so because of the great efforts of young people such as our interns featured here.