"The blues is the sound of a wounded but undefeated people."

"We must never allow despair to become our default."

"Obama posed as progressive and turned out to be counterfeit. We ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency."

"I'm a jazz freedom fighter, and I believe in the power of improvisation and the blues as a way of life."

"Black prophetic fire is the hypersensitivity to the suffering of others that generates a righteous indignation that results in the willingness to live and die for freedom."