Brazil is the second blackest nation in the world.

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.

Conflict connects us to life, just as life connects us to conflict.

Excellence is not a skill, it's an attitude.

I am so grateful to Marc Jacobs, Riccardo Tisci, Karl Lagerfeld, and Katie Grand, who took a chance on me that first season and gave me an opportunity.

Until recently, we regarded love as supernatural. We were willing to study the brain chemistry of fear and depression and anger but not love.

You can never really understand an individual unless you also understand the society,historical time period in which they live,personal troubles, and social issues

Religion has always been the wound, not the bandage.

Believe and you're halfway there.

The biggest thing I have learned is you can't take anything for granted. You have to work as hard as you can every night, regardless.

Our currency is what we are able to make.

Remember that consciousness is power. Tomorrow's world is yours to build.