My parents were nonmaterialistic. They believed that money without knowledge was worthless, that education tempered with religion was the way to climb out of poverty in America, and over the years they were proven right.

God is the color of water. Water doesn't have a color.

I asked her if I was black or white. She replied "You are a human being. Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!

The question of religion in black America is something filmmakers don't want to touch.

I want to lead my children by example. I want to teach them that dreams should never be forgotten, that part of true happiness is being in love with what you do. But one lesson I want my kids to remember after I’m gone is that the fight for love and passion is something worth dying for.

But a mountain of recent evidence suggests that teacher skill has less influence on a student's performance than a completely different set of factors: namely, how much kids have learned from their parents, how hard they work at home, and whether the parents have instilled an appetite for education.