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.

It's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.

The first step toward tolerance is respect and the first step toward respect is knowledge.

Since the day Martin Luther King was killed, the black middle classes have almost quadrupled, but the percentage of black children living on or below the poverty line is almost the same.

The biggest surprise for me, without a doubt, was that the first black people who came to the United States weren't the 20 who arrived in Jamestown in 1619. All of us had been taught that. Well, guess what? The first African came to Florida in 1513. And the huge shock is we know his name, Juan Garrido, and that he wasn't a slave. He was free! This brother was a conquistador who came with Ponce de Leon. He was looking for the Fountain of Youth just like the white people were.

My father lived to be 97 and played bridge every day up to the end, so I've got a 50 percent chance of living a long life like him.