As much as I think it is necessary and desirable for white people to have an expanded view of the black American experience, it's probably even more important for black people to have that expanded view.

I wanted to identify that the black experience is American experience.

The African-American experience is one of the most important threads in the American tapestry.

I think that much of the truth has been withheld from the American people.

Immigration is as much about the American experience and the values we share, and a lot more about economics than it is about politics.

During World War II, hundreds of thousands of people actually - and among them many African-American - migrated to the Hampton Roads area because of the job boom that was happening. It was a place where you could get stable war jobs.