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

Rage is fine as long as it doesn't deteriorate into bitterness.

Courage is being true to yourself, true to a sense of integrity.

I would want to conceive of philosophy as grounded in the very long humanist tradition that is the best of the West, which is open to the East and North and South.

There's no doubt that many of the mainstream white institutions tend to be cosmetic and symbolic when it comes to including African-Americans, whereas we black folk tend to be much more sensitive about embracing others, and we have a long history of that.

I try to, in my own fallible way, speak the truth.

Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, Maureen Dowd, a whole host of brilliant, courageous critics say all kinds of things, and he [Barack Obama] treats them with respect. They get invited to the White House. I say the same thing, he talks to me like I'm a Cub Scout.