I've always had questions about what it meant to be a protester, to be in the minority. Are the people who are trying to find peace, who are trying to have the Constitution apply to everybody, are they really the radicals? We're not protesting from the outside. We're inside.

Music has the power to make me feel good like nothing else does. It gives me some peace for a while. Takes me back to who I really am.

Our accomplishments show what kind of people we are.

The truth is that in this country you here you're more likely to be harassed, hurt, or killed if you're a minister speaking about progress for Black people than if you are a sure enough revolutionary.

Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.

I was a better writer when I was teaching. I was constantly going over the basics and constantly reminding myself, as I reminded my students, what made a good story, a good poem.

My songs were always about the tone of voice rather than the words.