You have to have a canon so the next generation can come along and explode it.

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

Lincoln would love the fact that Obama is such a great conciliator, trying to transcend ideology.

I want to be black, to know black, to luxuriate in whatever I might be calling blackness at any particular time, but to do so in order to come out on the other side, to experience a humanity that is neither colorless nor reducible to color.

Diversity doesn't mean black and white only.

An impressively researched and documented collection of the finest thought produced by writers throughout the African Diaspora. A magnificent achievement.

I got a letter from this lady of Russian and Jewish descent. She asked me if I was a racist because I didn't do any White people. I was shocked, because my mandate is to do Black studies. It would have never occurred to me if this lady hadn't written this letter. We decided we were going expand the brand and do everybody.