In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we came from.

History is written by winners.

There was a great deal of inbreeding between the Indians and the slaves. Genetically speaking, black people are some part black, some part European.

I know that statistically, it has been proven that there is a tremendous amount of black on black crime within the inner cities.

I acknowledge immense debt to the griots [tribal poets] of Africa - where today it is rightly said that when a griot dies, it is as if a library has burned to the ground.

Tying the little folks with the older folks is a great and powerful tool to preserve and to protect the family and the individual.

Every death is like the burning of a library.