I think someone should explain to the child that it's OK to make mistakes. That's how we learn. When we compete, we make mistakes.

When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.

My choosing Islam was not a political statement; it was a spiritual statement.

Kobe's an incredibly talented athlete, and there are many more like him among today's players.

It's hard for young players to see the big picture. They just see three or four years down the road.

The Sixties was a perfect storm of disaffection with political leaders trying to pass off the same old platitudes to maintain the status quo and an unexpected courageousness in the masses of youth. Nothing on this scale had ever happened before in U.S. history and it hasn't happened since.

I got all A's and was hated for it; I spoke correctly and was called a punk.