When I fight about what is going on in the neighborhood, or when I fight about what is happening to other people’s children, I’m doing that because I want to leave a community and a world that is better than the one I found.

I'd like to transform the system in very fundamental ways, but you've got to do that in every way that you can. You can't wait for some magic bullet or some magic politician or some magic anything to have that happen. You got to get out there and use your vote.

People who don't vote have no line of credit with people who are elected and thus pose no threat to those who act against our interests.

There comes a time when you roll up your sleeves and put yourself at the top of your commitment list.

People want to pick the leader, and we are obsessed with celebrity and whoever is on the cover of this or that.

I grew up in a very religious family and it is the motivating force to every thing I do. I am fortunate to have had adults all around me who really lived their faith, in helping other people and doing the best you can do. The world wasn't so wonderful back then, with segregated rule in the South. But we were never hopeless and we never despaired because we had adults out there struggling with us, being there for us, and buffering us.

Be a good ancestor. Stand for something bigger than yourself. Add value to the Earth during your sojourn.