"It's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that."

"In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it."

"The only people who live in a post-black world are four people who live in a little white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. The idea that America is post-racial or post-black because a man I admire, Barack Obama, is president of the United States, is a joke. And I hope no one will even wonder about this crazy fiction again."

"What people forget is that the most radical thing about Obama is that he was the first black man in history to imagine that he could become president, who was able to make other Americans believe it as well. Other than that, he is a centrist, just like I try to be. He's been bridging divisions his whole life."

"No part of the education of a politician is more indispensable than the fighting of elections."

"Outright bans on plastic bags may not be the best solution, but education and incentives to get people to stop using them are necessary."

"I always felt that I came up short in the education department, but I've come to the conclusion that we all get an education."

"Natural ability without education has more often raised a man to glory and virtue than education without natural ability."