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

I have the capacity to express what I feel needs to be expressed. And I try to do what I believe in.

When someone you know passes on, the only thing you can do is keep moving forward.

Mother Earth is in pain and ailing because of global warming.

I was a member of the Black Student Union, part of the central committee at San Francisco State. During the 1968 strike there, I was certainly very much involved in the activities that occurred on campus. It was part of an extraordinary period in my life

I didn't elect [Barack] Obama because he's a black; I voted for Obama because he was the right person at the time.

Democracy is about criticism. I didn't elect Obama because he's a black; I voted for Obama because he was the right person at the time. Period. The exceptionalism of a black U.S. President is not important to me. It's what he does. And who he has at the table. And what he does to change the world - that's what's important.