I hope it will come as no surprise that I have something to say.

As a young woman, I attended Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa, which was then not segregated. But I witnessed the weight of Apartheid everywhere around me.

Political campaigns are the graveyard of real ideas and the birthplace of empty promises.

I learned something then. And I believe it still. There is a value in taking a stand, whether or not anybody may be noticing it, and whether or not it is a risky thing to do. And if even those who are in danger can raise their lonely voices, isn't it more that is required of all of us, in this land where liberty had her birth? In America the true patriots are those who dare speak truth through power.

My roots are African. The birds I remember, the fruits I ate, the trees I climbed, they're African.

I mention my age because I find people in this country - women, not men, of course - women are so troubled by their age. There's a culture of youth, and it's a phony culture.

There is a value in taking a stand whether or not anybody may be noticing it, and whether or not it is a risky thing to do.