"The American empire is crumbling from within. And it’s not just economic, it’s spiritual, it’s moral."

"To be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing."

"Does being downtrodden make us spiritual again? WEST: I don't think it's just a matter of the material conditions; it's a matter of the choices that we make."

"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…"

"I'm a bluesman in the life of the mind, a jazzman in the world of ideas."