Body and soul, Black America reveals the extreme questions of contemporary life, questions of freedom and identity: How can I be who I am?

The purpose of polite behavior is never virtuous. Deceit, surrender, and concealment these are not virtues. The goal of the mannerly is comfort, per se.

If we lived in a democratic state our language would have to hurtle, fly, curse, and sing, in all the common American names, all the undeniable and representative and participating voices of everybody here.

As I am a poet I express what I believe, and I fight against whatever I oppose, in poetry.

Freedom is indivisible, and either we are working for freedom or you are working for the sake of your self-interests and I am working for mine.

Good poetry and successful revolution change our lives. And you cannot compose a good poem or wage a revolution without changing consciousness unless you attack the language that you share with your enemies and invent a language that you share with your allies.

Consequently, most of us really exist at the mercy of other people's formulations of what's important.