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.

You have to have a canon so the next generation can come along and explode it.

Fear is the first and last obstacle on your path to greatness.

Old age is the new childhood.

That which,like a sea, threatens to drown you- shall be a highway for your escape

I don't know much, But when push comes to shove, I definitely don't believe, There's such a thing as wrong love.

James Comey better hope that there are no "tapes" of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!

When I was young I was working with a lot of people being out in the south. My uncle wrote for Al Green and I was around Al a lot.

If a viper lives in your room and you wish to have a peaceful sleep, you must first chase it out.

Believe in yourself and what you feel. Your power will come from that.

Meditation cannot be purchased and no one can give it to you. You have to achieve it. It is not something outer, it is something inner, a growth, and that growth comes through awareness.

We have no control over the outcome of anything. Like the planet and global warming, we don't control that. If politicians want a war we don't control that. Acts of terrorism, we can't control them.