[E]mpathy - not squishy self-serving conflict avoidance - is the hand-maiden, not the enemy, of reason and intellectual inquiry.

Addressing the moral failings of black people while ignoring the centuries-old failings of their governments amounts to a bait and switch.

Lot of folks like to mock dumb history, and pretend it's just a few idiots. Isn't. It's the country.

An America that looks away is ignoring not just the sins of the past but the sins of the present and the certain sins of the future.

[Winning the White House was an achievement], but as an African-American, [Barack Obama], I think the symbolism is in how he conducted himself. The symbolism was in - and this sounds really, really small, but it's actually big for African-Americans - the symbolism was not in being an embarrassment, but to being a figure that folks were actually proud of.

Is the Jewish race thriftier than the Arab race?

Never forget that we were enslaved in this country longer than we have been free. Never forget that for 250 years black people were born into chains-whole generations followed by more generations who knew nothing but chains.