Im a child of the Civil Rights Movement.

The civil rights movement didn't deal with the issue of political disenfranchisement in the Northern cities. It didn't deal with the issues that were happening in places like Detroit, where there was a deep process of deindustrialization going on. So you have this response of angry young people, with a war going on in Vietnam, a poverty program that was insufficient, and police brutality. All these things gave rise to the black power movement. The black power movement was not a separation from the civil rights movement, but a continuation of this whole process of democratization.

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

My theatrical background was in the great work of the South African playwright Athol Fugard.

Every day of my life I walk with the idea that I am black, no matter how successful I am. And our success is tempered by that; you're successful in this way given the fact you are black, and most blacks don't get to that point.

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.

My Toussaint [Louverture] film is in limbo. We still hope after all this time that we can find another way to get this film done.