We suffer pain, we hang tight to hope, we nurture expectations, we are plagued occasionally by fears, we are haunted by defeats and unrealized hopes . . . The hoplessness of which I speak is not limited.

I come from a great family. I've seen family life and I know how wonderful, how nurturing, and how wonderful it can be.

I was fortunate enough to have been raised to a certain point before I got into the race thing. I had other views of what a human is, so I was never able to see racism as the big question. Racism was horrendous, but there were other aspects to life.

Accept that environment compromises values far more than values do their number on environment.

I was the only Black person on the set. It was unusual for me to be in a circumstance in which every move I made was tantamount to representation of 18 million people.

I cannot be understood in three minutes.

I find myself, at this time in my life, no less challenged, no less plagued, no less intrigued by what I still don't know.