My life is art. Its how I express God.

I was literally the black sheep of the family, and there were definitely moments of discomfort while my grandmother was working through her racism.

Success made me self-sufficient, but it also took away my anonymity. I'm just this quiet nobody, and all of a sudden people are nervous around me. That was kind of weird.

It's from our sufferings that we form our consciousness.

A group of us started a community center in Santa Monica. We've tried different programs, and three have worked really well. A poetry group. Once a week we visit Venice High and talk to girls at risk.

Prisons are like the concentration camps of our time. So many go in and never come out, and primarily they're black and Latino.

My mother, brave woman, lost her whole family when she decided to marry a black man in the 60s. When the marriage fell apart, she had to come back to her family.