Politicians will not put forth programs aimed at the problems of poor blacks while their turnout remains so low.

So many people of color who made major contributions to American history have been trapped in the purgatory of history.

Patriotism is best exemplified through auto-critique. When you're willing to stand up within the group and say, 'It is wrong for Black people to be anti-Semitic,' or 'It is wrong for America to discriminate against persons of African descent and made them slaves and based its wealth upon free labor,' it's crucial to say that.

Dr. King's Nobel Prize had a more powerful transforming effect on him than I think he realized at the time.

People don't realize what a brilliant politician Lincoln was. Looking back, we want to ascribe a level of providence to his every decision but he was a cunning and calculating politician; from the cultivation of his image as a hayseed from Illinois, to his ability to keep this country together under dire circumstances.

What's fascinated me from the time I was a little kid was the way we construct our lives through stories.

Ever since I watched 'Roots,' I've dreamed of tracing my African ancestry and helping other people do the same.