I always want to read something about our people's enslavement near the 4th. To keep it light, I also read Rolanda Watts' "Destiny Lingers" She is a sisterfriend and I ran into her at Essence. Then, I finished Paul Taylor's "The Next America." Taylor is the Executive VP at the Pew Research Center, and he uses their excellent data base to talk about the coming "generational showdown" which we are experiencing, at some level, in Black America.

When public policy is directed toward urban spaces, it is directed toward people who sit at the margins.

I like to think that life lessons are learned and re-learned every day and take on importance at different times in life.

The published record will show that many in Chicago have mixed feedback on the President's [Barack Obama] role as organizer.

I describe myself as a "spiritual sampler," raised Catholic, been Baptist, Methodist, and a Unity member.

As I write in the book, I do not regret either of my votes for President [Barack] Obama, nor my support of him when he ran for the Senate before that. I get excited as I ever did when I see that black man on Air Force One. But I won't settle for symbolism, and our President's record should be open for analysis.

If the Muslim community in Michigan comes out strongly, I think they will make a difference.