The bottom line is that Wanda Sykes has the longest continuously documented family tree of any African-American we have ever researched.

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 don’t even have to love your job

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist. Dom Helder Camara – one of the great prophets of Christian "Liberation theology".

He didn't know that sometimes, the most awesome and complicated thing you can do is just stick around.

Recently I saw Kasparov and he looked to me as still young and potent champion.

... probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some one primordial form, into which life was first breathed.

I' tired of old people being labeled as worthless,useless,toothless and sexless

Coming, going, the waterbirds, don't leave a trace, don't follow a path.

Cat food. It stinks a bit, but if you don't put up with the smell, the little kitten will die.

This guy [Donald Trump] is not going to get pushed around.