Freedom is a hard-bought thing.

The answer to injustice is not to silence the critic but to end the injustice.

Artists are the gate keepers of truth. We are civilization’s radical voice.

In fact, because of this deep desire for peace, the ruling class leaders of this land, from 1945 on, stepped up the hysteria and propaganda to drive into American minds the false notion that danger threatened them from the East.

Could I say that the reason that I am here today, you know, from the mouth of the State Department itself, is: I should not be allowed to travel because I have struggled for years for the independence of the colonial peoples of Africa.

Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands. The artist must take sides. He must elect to fight for freedom or for slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative.

I am being tried for fighting for the right of my people, who are still second-class citizens in this United States of America.