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You see, I was born in the slums, that was before the ghetto. The ghetto was kind of refined; the slums was right there on the ground.

I come from the slums; I come from a hard background; I come from a poor family; and I was a soldier.

Being born is like being kidnapped. And then sold into slavery.

Slums could be thought of as the development of a special organ, or they could be thought of as a tumor that's grown, and in some ways is unhealthy and could ultimately lead to the city's destruction. My own feeling is that slums are probably a bit of both.

Someone once accused me of slumming. I don't know what that means. I play basketball. And through that, I get to see a world that is not smart-kid world.

You were born as the one you are.

I was born gay, just as I was born black.

I was born in a ghetto on the North Side of Pittsburgh. I was born as Emmett Till was dying and the civil rights era was being born.

I went to a segregated school; I was born a Negro, not a black man.