Fluidity means that our black identities are constantly changing as we respond to circumstances in our families and communities of origin, and as we interact with a wider world.

Had middle class black women begun a movement in which they had labeled themselves "oppressed," no one would have taken them seriously.

We know that so much of the war that is happening is the attempt of one group to snatch the resources of another group.

Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.

Knowledge rooted in experience shapes what we value and as a consequence how we know what we know as well as how we use what we know.

In a culture of domination, preoccupation with victimage is inevitable.

I feel that I have many real students whom I have not met. Many are in cloisters and they never get out. Others are in prison. But in many cases they practice the teachings much better than those who meet me every day.