An impressively researched and documented collection of the finest thought produced by writers throughout the African Diaspora. A magnificent achievement.

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.

a life can change in a tenth ofa second.or sometimes it can take70years.

War is just demographics in a hurry.

People usually gossip about people they don't quite understand, are jealous of, or have other negative feelings for.

I am a writer....a master of words.'Like a knife, words should be handled carefully. They can cut deeply, the wound may never heal, and the scar can remain for an eternity.

What do you do from morning to night?" "I endure myself.

I grew up playing in an alley on the south side of Milwaukee.

You exist in time, but you belong to eternity.

I've always thought anyone can make money. Making a life worth living, that's the real test.

You can't hit my team in the groin and expect me to smile about it.

As a painter you're responsible yourself, 100 percent. In film, you have the editor, the director, the other actors. It has the advantage of not being solitary.