In the wider context, what I believe I was - the point I was making was that our life experiences do permit us to see some facts and understand them more easily than others.

I firmly believe in the rule of law as the foundation for all of our basic rights.

The truth is that since childhood I had cultivated an existential independence. It came from perceiving the adults around me as unreliable, and without it I felt I wouldn't have survived. I cared deeply for everyone in my family, but in the end I depended on myself.

You can't be a minority in this society without having someone express disapproval about affirmative action.

The best I could say about third grade was that it was a more or less continuous state of dread.

If I go home, get a gun, come back and shoot you, that may not be legal under New York law because you would have alternative ways to defend.

Sometimes, even if there was no useful advice to give, I saw that listening still helped.