Im a child of the Civil Rights Movement.

Leadership has to be focused on some very radical ideas that only we as 21st Century people can talk about: making sure people have a livelihood, making sure people receive a living wage, making sure the environment, the Mother Earth, is embraced and cherished and not destroyed. Making sure people are healthy in what they eat, making sure we hold people and corporations accountable for the damage they do not only to our environment but to our institutions.

Every day of my life I walk with the idea I am black no matter how successful I am.

I was able to do The Saint of Fort Washington, on the relationship between two homeless men.

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.

It's a misconception to believe that the resistance ended with the civil rights movement.

Mel Gibson is my friend. I love Mel. He's not the person that I hear people are often trying to diminish. Whatever his challenges are in life, he still remains someone I'm very close to.