Those titles, Executive Producer or actor, are unimportant. I always try to approach my role as an artist. The first thing you want to do, that you attempt to do as an artist, is to have some sort of input into the material that you are working on. That is how my process begins; I say to myself: "I want to do this kind of work or I want to do that kind of work."

It is the most painful thing to see how young children become collateral damage of wars, but when peace treaties are signed landmines do not respect any of these accords. And as long as these silent killers linger after wars, children will never know peace

In The Black Power Mixtape , you hear the voice of Angela Davis - not someone playing Angela Davis.

There is a lack of leadership outside the Beltway, outside of politics.

What happened to Haiti is a threat that could happen anywhere in the Caribbean to these island nations, you know, because of global warming, because of climate change and all this.

What he [Barack Obama] does to change the world - that's what's important.

Popular literature and culture used to reflect people's aspirations, pain, and passion. All those particular things are no longer available to us.