The legacies that parents and church and teachers left to my generation of Black children were priceless but not material: a living faith reflected in daily service, the discipline of hard work and stick-to-itiveness, and a capacity to struggle in the face of adversity.

It's the new slavery. It came out of the drug laws and it really is something we're going to have to confront, but I don't see enough people up in arms about that. We need to be.

Unless children have strong education and strong families and strong communities and decent housing, it's not enough to go sit in at a lunch counter.

What's wrong with our children? Adults telling children to be honest while lying and cheating. Adults telling children to not be violent while marketing and glorifying violence... I believe that adult hypocrisy is the biggest problem children face in America.

Amidst protestations of 'Who can be against the children?' too few people are FOR children when it really matters.

[Martin Luther ] King didn't pick his leadership position. Most movements are not started by single people.

Failure is just another way to learn how to do something right.