It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule. That's where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts. We never got the 40 acres. We went all the way to Herbert Hoover, and we never got the 40 acres. We didn't get the mule. So we decided we'd ride this donkey as far as it would take us.

John Lewis being attacked as "talk, talk, talk" by president-elect [Donald] Trump because he said he didn`t consider him a legitimate president.

How do you make things fair?

I think that whoever is the attorney general, you don't want them to be as a yes person for any particular constituency.

I think drugs affect poor people and people of color more than anyone.

During my 2004 presidential campaign, I was fond of saying that it was high time for the Christian right to meet the right Christians.

I grew up in the 1950s and '60s, when it was almost a holiday when a black act would go on Ed Sullivan.