When the sins of our fathers visit us We do not have to play host. We can banish them with forgiveness As God, in his His Largeness and Laws.

There's no idea in the world that is not contained by black life. I could write forever about the black experience in America.

As soon as white folks say a play's good, the theater is jammed with blacks and whites.

The details of our struggle to survive and prosper, in what has been a difficult and sometimes bitter relationship with a system of laws and practices that deny us access to the tools necessary for productive and industrious life, are available to any serious student of history or sociology.

What do you do with your legacy, and how do you best put it to use?

I cried a river of tears but he was too heavy to float on them. So I dragged him with me these years across an ocean.

I first got involved in theater in 1968, at the height of a social tumult. I was a poet.