The last thing we want is a monolithic viewpoint where six people are standing before a president saying the same thing over and over again.

When I was a student, I studied philosophy and religion. I talked about being patient. Some people say I was too hopeful, too optimistic, but you have to be optimistic just in keeping with the philosophy of non-violence.

I think it is a must for young people and generations yet to come, to understand, to feel, to touch, to almost smell the drama of what happened a few short years ago [the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s]. So maybe, just maybe, we will never ever repeat this unbelievable time in our history. We have to tell it all, and make it plain, and make it clear, so people will never ever forget the distance we have come, and the progress we have yet to make.

You have to have the capacity and the ability to take what people did, and how they did it, and forgive them and move on.

You cannot be afraid to speak up and speak out for what you believe. You have to have courage, raw courage.

We will stand up for what is right, for what is fair and what is just. Health care is a right and not a privilege.

We never gave up. We didn't get lost in a sea of despair. We kept the faith. We kept pushing and pulling. We kept marching. And we made some progress.