My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected and the despised.

So much talent comes from the base of poverty and those in the margins. You limit the base, you miss too much talent.

Gangs are a group reaction to helplessness.

America is not like a blanket- one piece of unbroken cloth. America is more like a quilt- many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven together by a common thread.

In order for an ideal to become a reality, there must be a person, a personality to translate it.

The trouble is that nonviolence is so often defined as refusal to fight, and that is the American definition of cowardice. In fact, marching unarmed against the guns and dogs of the police requires more courage than does aggression. The perverted idea of manhood coming from the barrel of a gun is what keeps people from understanding nonviolence.

The only time you should look down at someone, is when you are helping them up.