Learning to sing one's own songs, to trust the particular cadences of own's voices, is also the goal of any writer.

In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it.

The story of the African-American people is the story of the settlement and growth of America itself, a universal tale that all people should experience.

The first step toward tolerance is respect and the first step toward respect is knowledge.

The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up.

In Ethiopia, the black people became Christians 1700 years ago, hundreds of years before Northern Europe turned to Christianity... And here, most of the saints are black.

We can revolutionize the attitude of inner city brown and black kids to learning. We need a civil rights movement within the African-American community.

I want to be a figure for prison reform. I think that the criminal justice system is rotten.

Censorship is to art as lynching is to justice.

Wherever you go in the history of America, there have been Black people making contributions, but their contributions have been obscured, lost, buried.

Well, certainly one of the ironies of the success of affirmative action is that the middle class within the black community no longer lives within 'black community' by and large.

It'd be great to be so famous that if I murder someone, I will never, ever, ever serve any jail time, even if it's totally obvious to everyone that I did it.

You had better live your best and act your best and think your best today for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow.

I've definitely had those moments when I think a relationship with somebody is one way, and then it just flips.

What if everyone in the whole world suddenly decided to run away from his problems?" "Well, at least we'd all be running in the same direction!

The one size fits all approach of standardized testing is convenient but lazy.

The wisest men are wise to the full in death.

I compromised my ability to tell my story, at the most basic level.

Awards are great, but they're not who you are, and pop culture isn't who you are.

I'm a total soccer freak. I total soccer freak. Absolute total.

You've got to stay strong to be strong in tough times.