Much of what I do now stems from my rage at segregation and discrimination. I can't stand to see children not able to do anything, anybody not able to do what they can do. The daily lessons of exclusion, having hand-me-down books in schools, of seeing ambulances turn away and not give health care for people lying in the streets who are migrant workers. Everything I do today stems from that segregated existence.

You just do it one step at a time.

Black women rock the cradle, and whoever rocks the cradle rocks the future.

As [Martin Luther] King said, it never cost anybody a dime to integrate the lunch counters. When you start talking about trying to deal with jobs and hunger and things that require investment, then that's really the tough stuff, because everybody wants to do right if it doesn't cost them anything.

Semi-automatic weapons have no socially redeeming purpose.

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

Be grateful for good breaks and kind favors but don't count on them.