I'm looking forward to the time when we all look like Polynesians.

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.

No matter how bad that you think things are going in your life, some people would still consider your state of living a blessing compared to theirs.

Physics is really figuring out how to discover new things that are counterintuitive, like quantum mechanics. It's really counterintuitive.

I look in the mirror and it's hard for me. I am really thin. I want to look fit and beautiful and sexy, and I can't.

Don't go looking for Mr. Right. Look for Mr. Right Now.

I look at trees, hunt mushrooms, and watch animals. Fishing is what gets me out into the woods so I can notice these things.

I studied painting, sculpture and video in both undergrad and grad school, but I've always been more interested in music and I've always admired music that can evoke a cinematic experience.

The more energy-efficient we become as a nation, the less we need to develop additional energy sources.

Love is made by two people, in different kinds of solitude. It can be in a crowd, but in an oblivious crowd.

Culture is your operating system.

Think for yourself and question authority.