It turns out one of my ancestors fought in the Continental Army, so I was inducted into the Sons of the American Revolution.

If Martin Luther King came back, he'd say we need another civil rights movement built on class not race.

The thing about black history is that the truth is so much more complex than anything you could make up.

I think that the roots of racism have always been economic, and I think people are desperate and scared. And when you're desperate and scared you scapegoat people. It exacerbates latent tendencies toward - well, toward racism or homophobia or anti-Semitism.

The first slave to read and write was the first to run away.

People who own property feel a sense of ownership in their future and their society. They study, save, work, strive and vote. And people trapped in a culture of tenancy do not.

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