I went to Israel when the missiles were falling there.

My mother came here to New York. She and my grandmother were domestics, cooking, cleaning for other people.

So it's a mistake for someone to think that they bailed New York out. They did assist us, for which we are grateful, but it's a mistake to say we bailed New York out by giving them a grant of money to help those poor people who throw it away on welfare.

Well, I was about six or seven, and my mother and father separated.

As a matter of fact, even when I finished law school, I had no notion of public service then.

The art and culture that is New York, communications, finance, all these things help make up New York. The rest of the country should be happy that we are what we are.

In 1975 I was among a group of blacks who formed the Black Americans in Support of Israel Committee.