“This is what I would have done if I had to have a real job: I would have been a history teacher.”

“My grandfather and my uncle both died from colorectal cancer, my dad almost died from it and I have the gene for it.”

“I am highly offended by the total lack of acknowledgement of my contribution to Laker success.”

“When I was a kid, no one would believe anything positive that you could say about black people. That's a terrible burden.”

“What I have is P.H. positive chronic myeloid leukemia, which is an aberration in your white blood cells.”

“In a typical history book, black Americans are mentioned in the context of slavery or civil rights. There's so much more to the story.”

“When I was 17, I worked in a mentoring program in Harlem designed to improve the community. That's when I first gained an appreciation of the Harlem Renaissance, a time when African-Americans rose to prominence in American culture. For the first time, they were taken seriously as artists, musicians, writers, athletes, and as political thinkers.”

“I try to do the right thing at the right time. They may just be little things, but usually they make the difference between winning and losing.”

“Jackie Robinson, as an athlete and as someone who was trying to make a stand for equality, he was exemplary.”

“I would suggest that teachers show their students concrete examples of the negative effects of the actions that gangsta rappers glorify.”

“This is what I would have done if I had to have a real job: I would have been a history teacher.”