The United States Justice Department, in my opinion, hasn't done a damn thing to alleviate this horrible manifestation of racism, bigotry and hate against blacks - the first African American President has done nothing. Even if he were inclined to do something to rectify what we are experiencing as a nation, I don't know if can go as far as an artistic expression can go, as salve for the collected suffering of the people.

The beauty of doing a series is that, over the course of time, it's like peeling an onion. You're able to reveal these layers, more and more. You just don't want to reveal too much, too soon.

Hollywood loves to pat itself on the back and espouse their rhetorically liberal points of view while they continue to be the 1 percent and point the finger at the other guy.

I hope that people will come and experience our play 'A Small Oak Tree Runs Red' . I don't want anybody to suffer, but I source the 18th Century philosopher David Hume in association with the experience. He asserted that when we go to a tragic play, and when the form of tragedy is well put together, then we can experience a catharsis that is soul cleansing, and an anodyne to what our life would be like without it.

I think that one thing that America is guilty of is not ever apologizing for the greatest sin of the country, which is slavery.

I think that in some ways there is no more important thing in my life outside of family and God.

The images that people see in the media of black people - whether journalistic or narrative - remain horrible. And those images, combined with the lack of respect among black people in the poorer neighborhoods for themselves, and the part the police and other people coming into those neighborhoods play, it creates no value for life.