Sometimes I feel like rap music is almost the key to stopping racism.

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.

Let me just say that to imagine racism does not exist is imagination. And to imagine that it does not create its own set of problems is true imagination. So let's not imagine that racism is gone extinguished because it's not. We are seeing this in the top levels of the political arena and we are seeing it very very plainly.

Let's be very honest about what this is about. It's not about bashing Democrats it's not about taxes they have no idea what the Boston tea party was about they don't know their history at all. This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up.

Racism is a refuge for the ignorant. It seeks to divide and to destroy. It is the enemy of freedom and deserves to be met head-on and stamped out.

When I wasn't famous I had a lot of friends almost all of them Italian. The racism only started when I started to play football.

My encounters with racism are sort of second-hand situations where I might be standing around with a group of white friends and someone makes a comment that they wouldn't make at my family reunion.

Imagine a judicial nominee said 'my experience as a white man makes me better than a Latina woman.' Wouldn't they have to withdraw? New racism is no better than old racism.

Racism oppresses its victims but also binds the oppressors who sear their consciences with more and more lies until they become prisoners of those lies. They cannot face the truth of human equality because it reveals the horror of the injustices they commit.

In order to get beyond racism we must first take account of race. There is no other way. And in order to treat some persons equally we must treat them differently.