Obama, he wouldn't have been in office without what happened to me and a lot of black people before me. He would never have been in that situation, no doubt in my mind. He would get there eventually, but it would have been a lot longer. So I am glad for what I went through. It opened the doors for a lot of people.

Why can't we all just get along?

When I leave here, when my final day on this earth is up, I want to leave in peace. I want to have peace in my heart.

We wouldn't be as far along as a country if we didn't take on some of Martin Luther King's ways that he instilled in us.

Over the years, a lot of rappers - Lil' Wayne, Ice Cube - have used my name in their songs. I'm a real touchstone of history.

I know and value what it means to wake up and be alive and to share my story. I'm so blessed to be here and to be able to talk about it.

I'm a religious person. I remember my mom told me: 'Vengeance belongs to God. It's up to him to wreak vengeance.' It's hard for me to get to that point, but that's the work of God.