This is a column collection, or as one colleague called it, "history in real time," recounting my perspective on the highs and lows of this presidency from an African-American perspective. More than simply a column collection, the book has a substantial introduction that frames the [Barack] Obama presidency, explores the way Obama was treated by the political establishment and also how this first black president treated "his" people. In the epilogue, I use numbers to tell the story of African-American gains and losses during this presidency.

If people don't know about you, that's not on them, it's on you.

Don't believe the hype that black North Carolinians are not voting. We've heard this time and time again. It's just not the truth.

[Barack Obama] intended, I think, to say that he took Trayvon's [ Martin] death somewhat personally.

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

I hope his wife feeds him [Clarence Thomas, Justice, U.S. Supreme Court] lots of eggs and butter and he dies early like many black men do, of heart disease. . . . He is an absolutely reprehensible person.

Do you really think I'm going to go on record telling you the craziest thing I've ever done. There's a reel in my brain, and I think I'll keep it there. No regrets, though.