It's no accident that most of the great black spokespersons and leaders understood the centrality of self-affirmation, self-respect and self-love.

You can't move forward until you look back.

The wonderful thing about the black church for me is that it forces you to come to terms with the centrality of love in the world.

Anytime I look at a president, I don't care what color he is.

Being a Christian is not a political orientation for the president, but he is a centrist.

We had a much deeper sense of community in '67 than we do in '97. This is important to say that not in a nostalgic way because it's not as if '67 was a time when things were so good.

You keep folks so intimidated. You can give them money, access, but they're still scared. And as long as you're scared, you're on the plantation.