33 quotes
Ronald Reagan isn't the problem. Former president Jimmy Carter was not the problem. The lack of black leadership is the problem
For a time we wondered why our real father didn't come and rescue us, but we had long since accepted our fate by the time we finally met him.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I was seized with a guilt that I knew would never leave me, and I knew I didn't deserve to be free of it. I hadn't quite reached the end of my rope, but I was close enough.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I agree with Ralph Ellison when he asked, perhaps rhetorically, why is it that so many of those who would tell us the meaning of Negro, of Negro life, never bothered to learn how varied it really is.
I Am a Man, a Black Man, an American (1998)
These guys are sitting there watching the destruction of our race while arguing about Ronald Reagan
But what I believe is that if a person's individual rights or right to be a part of our economic system is violated under statute, we aggressively go after it. But we don't issue mandates to businesses that you've got to do this and you've got to do that.
A white person is free to think whatever they want to think, but a black person has to think a certain way. Why do you think I get in so much controversy? People have a model of what they think a black person should think.
As has become the custom, a wearisome one I admit, this invitation has not been without controversy. Though this unfortunate, this controversy has added little value in the calculus of my decision to be here.
I Am a Man, a Black Man, an American (1998)
How often had he longed to hold us, hug us, grant our every wish, but held himself back for fear of letting us see his vulnerability, believing as he did that real love demanded not affection but discipline?
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
I will not cataloge my opinions to which there have been objections since they are a matter of public record. But I must note in passing that I can't help but wonder if some of my critics can read.
I Am a Man, a Black Man, an American (1998)
[T]he Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers.
Gonzales v. Raich (2005)
Long after the fact, it occurred to me that this was a metaphor for life- blisters come before calluses, vulnerability before maturity- but not even the thickest of skins could have spared us the lash of Daddy's tongue.
My Grandfather's Son (2008)
Ironically, many of the people who are critics today were among those we called half-steppers, who had co-opted by "the man" because they were part of the system that oppressed us. When the revolution came, all of the so-called Negroes needed to be dealt with.
I Am a Man, a Black Man, an American (1998)