People are afraid, and when people are afraid, when their pie is shrinking, they look for somebody to hate. They look for somebody to blame. And a real leader speaks to anxiety and to fear and allays those fears, assuages anxiety.
Henry Louis GatesIf Martin Luther King came back, he'd say we need another civil rights movement built on class not race.
Henry Louis GatesPoliticians will not put forth programs aimed at the problems of poor blacks while their turnout remains so low.
Henry Louis GatesI use African-American, because I teach African Studies as well as African-American Studies, so it's easy, neat and convenient. But sometimes, when you're in a barber shop, somebody'll say, "Did you see what that Negro did?" A lot of people slip in and out of different terms effortlessly, and I don't think the thought police should be on patrol.
Henry Louis Gates