As you know from reading many of these Negro writers, we don't deal too much with the discussion of democracy and what it means and how improvisation fits in all that.

You can meet a young person who goes to school and is really enthusiastic, but if a sufficiently strong personality convinces them that this is a waste of time, that person might flunk out.

If there's an intellectual highway, there's also an intellectual subway.

You'd never know that listening to people in the UN but tribalism is the father of racism.

Rap actually comes out of punk rock, not black music.

When a violent minority that crosses color lines comes to believe that killing those you know or do not know is a reasonable solution to problems, we are in need of another vision.

Your ethnic or sexual identity, what region of the country you're from, what your class is - those aspects of your identity are not the same as your aesthetic identity.

Our society has gotten to the point where we might soon become less and less shocked by any kind of violence.

When you're artistic director of a program, you present the music you want to present.

All of us are made up of the stories that we listen to, the ones we disagree with and the ones that we agree with.

When people conclude that all is futile, then the absurd becomes the norm.

When troubles come may prayer be your automatic response.

Who knows how you should be? We simply do our best, over and over and over.

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority.

...if you are overdressed, it is a comment on them. If you are under dressed, it is a comment on you.

Today, especially, when there are so many stations for viewers to choose from, if they want news, they always come to CNN and that's where I wanted to be

I haven't been able to slam-dunk the basketball for the past five years. Or, for the thirty-eight years before that, either.

The hair department is always on my case about washing my hair. I am incredibly lazy, and a brat about washing my hair.

The truth I know for sure is that god is the creator of all things. And to not take ourselves too seriously.

Protect your vision. Prevail over adversity. Persevere in the midst of turmoil. Passionately act upon your convictions. Purposely walk into the day.

Hollywood is Newark, New Jersey with palm trees.