Kids come into the world with clean hearts, fresh starts.

I'm not a very public person.

You cannot look at a person and tell whether they're good or bad.

I remember the first time seeing myself on TV, when my family was watching the documentary 'Eyes on the Prize' for the first time. There were pictures of people going up the school stairs, and Mom said, 'Oh, that's you!' I said, 'I can't believe this. This is important.'

Racism is a grown-up disease, and we should stop using our kids to spread it.

Somehow, it always worked. Kneeling at the side of my bed and talking to the Lord made everything okay.

My family -- my mother and father had gone through such a hard time that by the time I graduated from sixth grade, they were separated.

I believe it doesn't do yourself any good to hate.

All of our schools should be good enough to attract a healthy racial mix, which, I believe, leads to the most effective learning for everybody.

My message is really that racism has no place in the hearts and minds of our children.

I had never seen a white teacher before, but Mrs. Henry was the nicest teacher I ever had.

As African-Americans, people of that generation felt pretty much if they were going to see changes in the world, they had to make sacrifices and step up to the plate. I'm very proud that my parents happened to be people who did. They were not privileged to have a formal education.

We'd get these boxes of clothing in the mail, and my mom would say, 'What makes you think all this is for you? You've got a sister right behind you.' So then I realized, we're all in this together. We have to help each other.

Evil looks like you and I. I know what evil looks like, and I know that it comes in all shades and colors.

When I think about our babies today and them not being safe in school, I think that should be the next civil rights movement, you know, is to ban the assault weapons so that our babies can be safe.

If you really think about it, if we begin to teach history exactly the way that it happened -- good, bad, ugly, no matter what -- I believe that we're going to find that we are closer, more connected than we are apart.

Don't follow the path. Go where there is no path and begin the trail. When you start a new trail equipped with courage, strength and conviction, the only thing that can stop you is you!

We have tolerance, respect, and equality in our written laws but not in the hearts of some of our people.

We may not all be equally guilty. But we are all equally responsible for building a decent and just society.

I believe that we have to come together, and we have to rely on the goodness of each other.