"My dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he's always had to fear being a white man with black sk…"

"The blues is a mode of being in the world, an existential stance, a way of grappling with the catastrophes of life."

"A lot of folk who have lost faith in God it's a very healthy thing because the God they lost faith in was probably an idol anyway."

"To be a visionary is to see beyond the present moment."

"I'm a public intellectual who believes in the power of the prophetic tradition."