When I went to Japan I sang in Japanese; when I went to Greece I sang in Greek. When I went to Spain, I sang in Spanish. I couldn't speak it very well, but I sang, I was beautiful in singing it. These things just constantly attracted people to the uniqueness of who I was and the way in which I performed.

Where is the raised voice of black America? Why are we mute?

Art in its highest form is art that serves and instructs society and human development.

These children and their parents know that getting an education is not only their right, but a passport to a better future - for the children and for the country.

I delighted in the music of Africa, the earliest of the slave plantation songs, the transformation into Christianity and all that Christianity brought to the lives of the Africans who were forced to come to America.

Without compromise repression would be defeated. Just as some cancers feed on hormones, compromise becomes the hormone of oppression.

I've always been supportive of the right of Israel as a state, and I've always fought against anti-Semitism, even in my own community.