I think we must never, ever demonize one another. That's true not just black people to black people; that's human being to human being.

There's a certain pleasure of the life of the mind that cannot be denied. There's a certain pleasure about being around people who enact a playfulness when it comes to the world of ideas.

White supremacist ideology is based first and foremost on the degradation of black bodies in order to control them. One of the best ways to instill fear in people is to terrorize them. Yet this fear is best sustained by convincing them that their bodies are ugly, their intellect is inherently underdeveloped, their culture is less civilized, and their future warrants less concern than that of other peoples.

If the churches don't move, much of the community won't move. We've got a situation in which a black church is still a major institution in the black community where 55 percent of the black folk attend and over 75 pass through its doors.

The powerful have no monopoly on greed, hatred, fear, or ignorance.

You can't have a high-quality relationship without time and without trust.

The blues aren’t pessimistic. We’re prisoners of hope but we tell the truth and the truth is dark.