All politicians are going to mask to some degree in order to present themselves in away they think will get them votes. What's different in Obama's case is that he's wearing a racial mask, this 'bargainer's' mask, and I think very effectively, whereby he gives whites the benefit of the doubt. He's essentially saying, 'I am going to presume you are not racist, if you won't hold my race against me.' So, his mask is a distinctly racial one.

My rule is, whatever is the most urgent is what I do next.

If you are a minority, it is important that you have legal ways to defend yourself in the society in which you live.

My honest opinion is that blacks have to fight much harder for their individuality than whites do.

My individuality is my gift to my people.

Since the social victim has been oppressed by society, he comes to feel that his individual life will be improved more by changes in society than by his own initiative. Without realizing it, he makes society rather than himself the agent of change. The power he finds in his victimization may lead him to collective action against society, but it also encourages passivity within the sphere of his personal life.

Opportunity follows struggle. It follows effort. It follows hard work. It doesn't come before.