It doesn't surprise me that aspect of the black nationalist movement, the cultural side, has triumphed because that is the aspect of the movement that was most commodifiable and when we look at the commodification of blackness we're looking at a phenomenon that's very profitable and it's connection with the rise of a black middle class I think is very obvious.

I think in black communities today we need to encourage a lot more cross racial organizing.

Imprisonment has become the response of first resort to far too many of our social problems.

It is essential to resist the depiction of history as the work of heroic individuals

If they come for me in the morning, they will come for you in the night.

Progressive art can assist people to learn what's at work in the society in which they live.

I think that has to do with my awareness that in a sense we all have a certain measure of responsibility to those who have made it possible for us to take advantage of the opportunities. The door is opened only so far. If some of us can squeeze through the crack of that door, then we owe it to those who have made those demands that the door be opened to use the knowledge or the skills that we acquire not only for ourselves but in the service of the community as well. This is something that I guess I decided a long time ago.