Education leads to enlightenment. Enlightenment opens the way to empathy. Empathy foreshadows reform.

Black people are the magical faces at the bottom of society's well. Even the poorest whites, those who must live their lives only a few levels above, gain their self-esteem by gazing down on us. Surely, they must know that their deliverance depends on letting down their ropes. Only by working together is escape possible. Over time, many reach out, but most simply watch, mesmerized into maintaining their unspoken commitment to keeping us where we are, at whatever cost to them or to us (Bell).

The challenge throughout has been to tell what I view as the truth about racism without causing disabling despair.

All ethical people strive to choose "right" over "easy" when confronted by situations that force them to choose one or the other.

Education leads to enlightenment. Enlightenment opens the way to empathy. Empathy foreshadows reform.

Resistance is a powerful motivator precisely because it enables us to fulfill our longing to achieve our goals while letting us boldly recognize and name the obstacles to those achievements.

Courage is a decision you make to act in a way that works through your own fear for the greater good as opposed to pure self-interest. Courage means putting at risk your immediate self-interest for what you believe is right.