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When I was growing up, I never heard the word 'racism.' It was only in Paris I encountered that.

The word 'racism' is like ketchup. It can be put on practically anything - and demanding evidence makes you a 'racist.'

I don't think many people understand what racism is. The intellectuals use it like toilet paper; it's something they can use. It's not something they live.

In England, I've never really had a problem with racism.

Racism springs from the lie that certain human beings are less than fully human. It's a self-centered falsehood that corrupts our minds into believing we are right to treat others as we would not want to be treated.

I'm not trying to say that it never hurt or that I never felt its sting, but I can honestly say that I never blamed anybody for racism. I have considered it more of a manifestation of humanity's problem rather than my personal problem.

I think that racism has gotten more subtle, and it's not even racism anymore: it's placism. Like where you live or whether you went to community college or Harvard, and it exists within the race.

I've certainly experienced racism, but it has not made a great impact on me. I have always thought, as I got older and older, I was more in charge of who I was. What someone thought about me or said about me made less of an impression on me at very vulnerable times.

Racism always exists cheek by jowl with, inside, and alongside culture and class. As a rule, it is inseparable from them. That is why, for example, food, language and names assume such importance in racial prejudice.

I mean, I think everybody realizes that calling people racist is a waste of time; nobody buys it anymore.