As for the not-black black president issue - white people can imagine blacks worse off than them, no problem. And now they can imagine blacks better off, no problem. But they still can't imagine black people who are just like them. That's the real problem. That's racism. Not being able to believe that those others are actually just like you.

It's not nothing when you're abroad and you don't have a washing machine.

What happened after World War I was disgraceful. Most veterans, like my great-uncle, were squashed back into place. Congress couldn't pass an anti-lynching bill. The World War II generation, though, wasn't going to take it.

If your family or your people are looking over your shoulder, change your seat or push them away.

Home is the place where there is somebody who does not wish you any pain.

Freedom is having real choice. This offers a limited amount of choices. This is participating in a very imperfect system that we're desperately hanging onto, that we don't want to see further eroded.

If you're bored, your readers will be bored. If you're faking it, you won't get the kind of readers you want.