I'm nervous about the prospects of an America that refuses to abide by its best conscience and its best lights and its best angels.

I used to tell people when I preached at a church, 'If you want a great sermon, be a great audience.'

I don't think you can bury words. I think the more you try to dismiss them, the more power you give to them, the more circulation they have.

I grew up in the church and began to recite set pieces at the age of four and five, like many of the other kids.

Perception, after all, is not simply a matter of what you believe about yourself, it all encompasses what others think about you, and what has been thought of you historically. I say we can pay attention to those other dimensions of our identity - class, gender, sexual orientation, geographical region - while at the same time understanding how our historically produced racial identity continues to serve, or undercut us.

Hip-hop is about the brilliance of pavement poetry.

Black people watch more television than anybody else, which makes it legitimate to talk about television. Its anesthetizing effect has been quite real. But that concern isn't new.