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What I know about this world is that white people will take care of themselves. And what I have learned is that if you are where they are on an equal basis, they cannot take care of themselves without taking care of you.

I had felt for a long time that, if I was ever told to get up so a white person could sit, that I would refuse to do so.

We want to live in the black and white, but we don't. The world is gray. And, I'm always fascinated by people who are clearly, 'This is black and this is white, and that's the way life is.' Life always has something to say about that.

White Americans have the option of not having to think about race on a daily basis. People of color don't. Race is a major deciding factor in their lives and the histories of their families.

You want the good life? You live where white people live, you go to school where white people go to school, and you shop where white people shop.

I also know that while I am black I am a human being, and therefore I have the right to go into any public place. White people didn't know that. Every time I tried to go into a place they stopped me.

White people just don't want their slaves to be free. That's the whole thing.

If the Great Spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place.

Only white men have the luxury of ignoring race.

Given the historical power differential between blacks and whites, blacks are required to be attentive to the way their white counterparts see themselves in relation to people of color if they want to survive and even thrive.