A Democratic State Is Not Proven By

In America, You Can Segregate The People, But The Problems Will Travel. From Slavery To Equal Rights, From State Suppression Of Dissent To Crime, Drugs And Unemployment, I Can't Think Of A Supposedly Black Issue That Hasn't Wasted The Original Black Target Group And Then Spread Like Measles To Outlying White Experience.

I Am Working Never To Be Late Again.

Freedom Is Indivisible, And Either We Are Working For Freedom Or You Are Working For The Sake Of Your Self-interests And I Am Working For Mine.

As A Poet And Writer, I Deeply Love And I Deeply Hate Words. I Love The Infinite Evidence And Change And Requirements And Possibilities Of Language; Every Human Use Of Words That Is Joyful, Or Honest Or New, Because Experience Is New... But As A Black Poet And Writer, I Hate Words That Cancel My Name And My History And The Freedom Of My Future: I Hate The Words That Condemn And Refuse The Language Of My People In America.

One Of The Reasons I Came To Berkeley Was Because I Saw So Many Students Of All Different Colors Speaking So Many Different Languages And Ferociously Presenting All These Different Views. I Thought, This Is The 21st Century And I Want To Be Here!