“We need some creative tension; people crying out for the things they want.”

We are one community, one family. Really, we are the American family.

Freedom is not a state; it is an act.

A democracy cannot thrive where power remains unchecked and justice is reserved for a select few.

We need someone who will stand up and speak up and speak out for the people who need help, for people who are being discriminated against.

Every generation leaves behind a legacy. What that legacy will be is determined by the people of that generation. What legacy do you want to leave behind?

You have to have hope. You have to be optimistic in order to continue to move forward.

If you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have a moral obligation to do something about it.

We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters.

I truly believe that one day we will get there, we will arrive. And if we do it right in America, maybe, just maybe, we can serve as a model for the rest of the world.

We may not have chosen the time, but the time has chosen us.

I say from time to time that the vote is precious.

Without our faith, we wouldn’t have been able to succeed.

The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.

People should organize people to just turn up and participate in the democratic process. Knock on doors.

You have to take the long hard look and just believe that if you’re consistent, you will succeed.

Some of us gave a little blood for the right to participate in the democratic process.

Whenever someone refers to me as someone “who happens to be black,” I wonder if they realize that both my parents are black. If I had turned out to be Scandinavian or Chinese, people would have wondered what was going on.

Hating people because of their color is wrong. And it doesn’t matter which color does the hating. It’s just plain wrong.

Black people have always been used as a buffer in this country between powers to prevent class war.

Black Lives Matter. It is really that simple. Keep pushing. Keep listening.

When I find a colour darker than black, I’ll wear it. But until then, I’m wearing black!

There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.

To be black was to be the beneficiary of a great inheritance, a special destiny, glorious burdens that only we were strong enough to bear.

People will never, ever forget what happened and how it happened, and it is my hope that we are on our way to greater change.