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People Who Own Property Feel A Sense Of Ownership In Their Future And Their Society. They Study, Save, Work, Strive And Vote. And People Trapped In A Culture Of Tenancy Do Not.

So, The Kind Of Precious Memories About Being Black For My Generation Won't Exist For My Kids' And Grandkids' Generations Unless We Preserve Them Through Fiction, Through Film, Through Comic Books, And Every Other Form Of Media We Can Possibly Utilize To Perpetuate The Story Of The Great African-american People.

I Got A Letter From This Lady Of Russian And Jewish Descent. She Asked Me If I Was A Racist Because I Didn't Do Any White People. I Was Shocked, Because My Mandate Is To Do Black Studies. It Would Have Never Occurred To Me If This Lady Hadn't Written This Letter. We Decided We Were Going Expand The Brand And Do Everybody.

We Have To Stop Making Excuses. One Of The Things That I'm Careful To Show Is The Horrendous Effects Of Institutional And Structural Racism, But In The End, You Can't Wait For White Man Or A Black Man To Come Riding In On A White Horse To Save You. We Have To Save Ourselves, And That's The Lesson Of "the African Americans."

The Biggest Surprise For Me, Without A Doubt, Was That The First Black People Who Came To The United States Weren't The 20 Who Arrived In Jamestown In 1619. All Of Us Had Been Taught That. Well, Guess What? The First African Came To Florida In 1513. And The Huge Shock Is We Know His Name, Juan Garrido, And That He Wasn't A Slave. He Was Free! This Brother Was A Conquistador Who Came With Ponce De Leon. He Was Looking For The Fountain Of Youth Just Like The White People Were.