[James] Baldwin said the real question is not when there will be the first Negro president in this country. The important question is what country he's going to be the president of.

[James] Baldwin is needed even more today because he helps you focus to the essential, to what is important.

[James] Baldwin "was one of greatest intellectuals of his time. He was an important voice, period, not an important black voice."

I think that James Baldwin is, for sure, one of the most important American writer/thinkers of his time... not just African-American. He singled-handily revolutionized the political, artistic and historical discourses about America. He created his particular and original language.

You cannot be responsible for Jim Crow. You can not be responsible for racism. This is much more a problem for the person exercising racism.You are confronted with the reality of racism when you go in the streets, when the eyes of others come upon you. [James] Baldwin goes back with you to all the experiences you went through and gives a name to them, and explains why it is like this.

Just try to be yourself and resist complacency and ignorance. All you can do is work, work; work and be disciplined.

[James] Baldwin explained that you have your own history, and that you cannot be responsible, for example, for slavery.