I always felt called to serve, to empower and ennoble as many people as I could, teaching, truth-telling, exposing lies, bearing witness, and being willing to live and die for something bigger than yourself.

Context shapes who you are.

Reelection ought not to be the primary preoccupation of any politician. It ought to be standing up for truth and justice.

Going all the way back to Jeremiah Wright and Tavis Smiley and Van Jones and even Shirley Sherrod and maybe even Maxine Waters and Charles Rangel. We're going to see what his [Barack Obama] response is.

Music is the very cement that has not just held the black community together but holds black selves together in a fundamental sense.

The only countervailing force against organized money at the top, is organized people at the bottom.

Fantasies are real. They have effects on your soul, even though, as I was too young to really step forward.