If whites would vote their economic interests, not their racial fears, we the people who have the most need for change have the power to bring about that change nonviolently.

The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the Native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay and the disabled make up the American quilt.

Success needs no explanation. Failure does not have one that matters.

We blacks were the first people embracing Obama, long before the people at expensive fundraisers were supporting him. We gave him his first love, 96 percent of blacks voted for him in 2008. Yet today we are the number one in unemployment, with 16 percent of American blacks out of work.

The American people on the ground need a clearer, stronger, Lyndon B. Johnson-type voice from their president.

You cannot teach what you don't know. You cannot give energy if you're not on fire on the inside.

Tears will get you sympathy, sweat will get you change.