An organization which claims to speak for the needs of a community must speak in the tone of that community.

The time for running has come to an end. You tell them white folk in Mississippi that all the scared niggers are dead!

I usually say I did the best I could with what I had. I have no major regrets.

We had no more courage than Harriet Tubman or Marcus Garvey had in their times. We just had a more vulnerable enemy.

If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.

What a liberal really wants is to bring about change that will not in any way endanger his position.

The secret of life is to have no fear; it's the only way to function.