In the history of black people, those who have been prophetic have either been killed or bought off and co-opted. And now we live in the age of the sellout, no matter what color. I argue that we witnessed the re-niggerization of the black professional class. They've got power, assets and prosperity, but they're still intimidated. They're concerned with their careers rather than their callings.

[on his book 'Black Prophetic Fire'] I think that we need more fire in our world: people on fire for justice, on fire for freedom. The most fundamental question in the book is how to be men and women of integrity and honesty in a time of such vast mendacity and criminality.