We know nothing about Africa, although our roots are there in terms of our forbearers. But I mean as far as the average Negro today, he knows nothing about Africa. And I think he's got to face the fact that he is an American, his culture is basically American, and one becomes adjusted to this when he realizes what, what he is.

My parents would always tell me that I should not hate the white man, but that it was my duty as a Christian to love him.

We have waited for more than three hundred and forty years for our constitutional and God-given rights.

A second way that oppressed people sometimes deal with oppression is to resort to physical violence and corroding hatred.

To have peace in the world, men & nations must embrace the nonviolent assertion that ends and means must cohere.

I've seen too much hate to want to hate, myself.

Jazz speaks for life. The Blues tell the story of life's difficulties, and if you think for a moment, you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph.