When I look in the mirror I see someone who's aging now, and someone who kept a commitment made many, many years ago, and who today is trying to be an example for young women.

If you're in government service for the money, then you'll do what you have to do to survive. But if you're in it to do the right thing, then it might mean that you won't get to stay there, but at least you can say, "I did what was right while I was there."

I wish that somehow, some way we could learn to live together in this country.

You can't give up. Sometimes you get knocked down, but you have to get back up, fighting. You have to think about the others who come behind you as well. And you have to think of the example that you set for others.

When I look in the mirror I see someone who's aging now, and someone who kept a commitment made many, many years ago, and who today is trying to be an example for young women.

We have landowners, small growers. We have people who are holding onto land that was acquired by their families after slavery. They need to produce some of the food we eat, so they can pay the taxes and hold onto the property. Taxes keep going up. We, and by we I mean black people, are rapidly becoming a landless people. Our ancestors, coming out of slavery, acquired more than 15 million acres of land. Today, we're probably down to less than 2 million acres.

I want the world to know that Shirley Sherrod is someone who is committed to helping others. I love people, and I love doing things that make a difference.