What does Washington believe are the best ways for members of his race to rise above the struggles of the time period and to promote the prosperity of generations to come?

i would say c, admiration because the narrator related to the main character and she, too, once felt ashamed about her culture and wished to be an american girl to impress a boy. she felt admiration because her mom prepared her favorite foods when her and robert's (the guy she liked) family all came together and had a family reunion.

pulling in the reader is important

the present continuous is a verb tense which is mainly used to indicates that an action is in progress at the moment of speaking.  

it is formed using: person + verb to be (am/is/are) +verb + - ing form  

example: i am studying at this moment .

in addition, the present continuous is also used in order to express things that will or will not happen in the near future.

example: i am having dinner with some friends tonight.

the speaker sometimes   uses it   to express that an action is repeated and it causes irritation on the part of the speaker

example: my sister is constantly complaining about everything.