I knew that there were black people in Africa, of course, unfortunately because of movies such as 'Tarzan.'

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 contemplating the blessings of Christ becomes a life acting the love of Christ.

the past is only the future with the lights on.

The more time you spend contemplating what you should have done... you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do.

'Fringe' is a sci-fi show. But once you go beyond the genre, you're immersed in a profound reality.

I have an excellent internal compass.

I'm not a very skeptical person.

If the truth doesn't save us, what does that say about us?

I write sets of books, but I've also written a lot of orphans.

If you only make fights that you're going to win, there would be no women's vote in America, there would be no civil rights laws in the country.

Those that innovate the future understand history the best.