In trying times, I like to remember that you have to keep walking because you can't see what is around the corner.

I've talked to dozens of Chicagoans who will only go off the record in talking about the manufactured mythology.

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.

Sometimes, I repeat myself, and that was a second elimination [of Barack Obama]. I worked with a team, including a great editor who, as the project came together, suggested other additions and eliminations. It was a process.

Indeed, as soon as he took office, Senator Mitch McConnell announced that his top priority was to deny President [Barack] Obama a second term.

Ronald Reagan's attack on people who receive public assistance was partially an attack on people of color.

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