“When you look at some of the appointments, there`s great concern because does it really represent all the people, and somehow figuring out how to bring the nation together.”

I remember the president-elect [Donald Trump] saying that I`m going to do something to dramatically, positively change communities, particularly in urban areas.

if we kept on voting, if we kept on believing, we would make America beautiful for everybody.

As I ran for president, I hoped that one child would come out of the ghetto like I did, could look at me walk across the stage with governors and senators and know they didn’t have to be a drug dealer.

One of the things that`s offensive is saying in the fifth district there`s nothing going on. This is a very vast district.

While the rest of the country waves the flag of Americana, we understand we are not part of that.

I just released an op-ed in the “Washington Post” that talks about providing an I.D. so that everyone can have an I.D., primarily, the social security card.

If I had spent the money you did and got 18 percent, I’d still be in Iowa hooting and hollering.

It is true that Mr. Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, after which there was a commitment to give 40 acres and a mule. That’s where the argument, to this day, of reparations starts.

I think that whoever is the attorney general, you don’t want them to be as a yes person for any particular constituency.

Though racism may be less blatant now in many cases, its existence is undeniable.

We must become the United States of America that represents every community, that represents every individual.

This is not just an agreement for the police department, this is an agreement that gets the police department working with the community and the community understanding its role as it continues to work with the police department.

You can’t get a solution if you won’t talk to the people that have the problem.

What I profess to do is help the oppressed and if I cause a load of discomfort in the white community and the black community, that in my opinion means I’m being effective, because I’m not trying to make them comfortable.

I think everybody understood what happened, why this consent decree came about after the Freddie Gray situation. There was tension on both sides.

I’ve never done anything else in my life other than preach and be an activist. Way before I was known.