In high school, I discovered myself. I was interested in race relations and the legal profession. I read about Lincoln and that he believed the law to be the most difficult of professions.

The black population now consists of two distinct classes-the middle class and the poor.

We African Americans have now spent the major part of the 20th Century battling racism

My father kept his distance from working-class American blacks.

When I went to law school, nobody heard of civil rights.

Whites would rather not be involved in race matters, I think.

When I was 15, I decided I wanted to be a lawyer. No one thought this was a good idea