So many people of color who made major contributions to American history have been trapped in the purgatory of history.

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.

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.

John Dalton's records, carefully preserved for a century, were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Manchester. It is not only the living who are killed in war.

who knows your silence is screening some back stage trouble for me as I have spoken truth .

Now, some have said I blame too many problems on my predecessor, but let's not forget that's a practice that was initiated by George W. Bush.

I like really good movies, but I can enjoy a really bad movie, too.

If we learn anything from the history of economic development, it is that culture makes all the difference.

All language is but a poor translation.

Talabani and Al-Maliki want to keep their seats for ever. Talabani forgets that the side which brought him to power was the United States and it brought him by rigging the elections.

There is no doubt that each of us is born an individual. Why is it then that so many of us die carbon copies?

Wonder is our erotic affiliation with all of life. If we develop this, enjoy it, and follow its promptings, our wants will be fewer and our needs plainer.