One out of three black men are in the criminal justice system in some form. Their despair is beginning to resonate through the entire culture; that is why suburban children want rap music.

I have spent many years trying to recover a common language, one that can cross the distance between people.

We make the path by walking.

Tragedies are about the depths that call up to certain men and insist that they descend.

An elder is someone who understands that the world belongs to the dead.

I have daughters and I have sons./When one of them lays a hand/On my shoulder, shining fish/Turn suddenly in the deep sea.

Every part of you that you do not love will regress and become hostile towards you.