There's nothing wrong with a little agitation for what's right or what's fair.

Some of us gave a little blood for the right to participate in the democratic process.

There are still forces in America that want to divide us along racial lines, religious lines, sex, class. But we've come too far; we've made too much progress to stop or to pull back. We must go forward. And I believe we will get there.

We need someone who is going to stand up, speak up, and speak out for the people who need help, for the people who have been discriminated against.

The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.

I remember back in the 1960s - late '50s, really - reading a comic book called 'Martin Luther King Jr. and the Montgomery Story.' Fourteen pages. It sold for 10 cents. And this little book inspired me to attend non-violence workshops, to study about Gandhi, about Thoreau, to study Martin Luther King, Jr., to study civil disobedience.

My mother and father and many of my relatives had been sharecroppers.

My parents told me in the very beginning as a young child when I raised the question about segregation and racial discrimination, they told me not to get in the way, not to get in trouble, not to make any noise.

When growing up, I saw segregation. I saw racial discrimination. I saw those signs that said white men, colored men. White women, colored women. White waiting. And I didn't like it.

I was so inspired by Dr. King that in 1956, with some of my brothers and sisters and first cousins - I was only 16 years old - we went down to the public library trying to check out some books, and we were told by the librarian that the library was for whites only and not for colors. It was a public library.

If someone had told me in 1963 that one day I would be in Congress, I would have said, 'You're crazy. You don't know what you're talking about.'

I would say the country is a different country. It is a better country. The signs I saw when I was growing up are gone and they will not return. In many ways the walls of segregation have been torn down.

The documented incidences of voter fraud are very rare, yet throughout the country, forces have mobilized in over 30 states to stop it. These efforts are very partisan.

The government, both state and federal, has a duty to be reasonable and accommodating.

In the past the great majority of minority voters, in Ohio and other places that means African American voters, cast a large percentage of their votes during the early voting process.

To make it hard, to make it difficult almost impossible for people to cast a vote is not in keeping with the democratic process.

It was not enough to come and listen to a great sermon or message every Sunday morning and be confined to those four walls and those four corners. You had to get out and do something.

We are tired of being beaten by policemen. We are tired of seeing our people locked up in jails over and over again. And then you holler, 'Be patient.' How long can we be patient?

I do not agree with what Mr. Snowden did. He has damaged American international relations and compromised our national security. He leaked classified information and may have jeopardized human lives. That must be condemned.

I never praised Mr. Snowden or said his actions rise to those of Mohandas Gandhi or other civil rights leaders.

Without the Sisters of St. Joseph, I might not be standing here.

I'm very hopeful. I am very optimistic about the future.

There may be some difficulties, some interruptions, but as a nation and as a people, we are going to build a truly multiracial, democratic society that maybe can emerge as a model for the rest of the world.

I really believe that all of us, as Americans... we all need to be treated like fellow human beings.

Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.

Early on, I wrote a letter to the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. I was 17. I felt called, moved.

We need some creative tension; people crying out for the things they want.

Obama is not an African American president, but a president of all Americans. It doesn't matter if you are black, white, Hispanic, he's the president of all races.

Too many people struggled, suffered, and died to make it possible for every American to exercise their right to vote.

We must bring the issue of mental illness out into the sunlight, out of the shadow, out of the closet, deal with it, treat people, have centers where people can get the necessary help.

Reading the Martin Luther King story, that little comic book, set me on the path that I'm on today.

I wanted young people to know that I was just a typical child.

Many young people, many children, are being abused, being put down, being bullied because of their sexual orientation.

Following the teaching of Gandhi and Thoreau, Dr. King, it set me on a path. And I never looked back.

The vote controls everything that you do.

The vote is precious. It's almost sacred, so go out and vote like you never voted before.

We come to Selma to be renewed. We come to be inspired. We come to be reminded that we must do the work that justice and equality calls us to do.

What 'March' is saying is that it doesn't matter whether we are black or white, Latino or Asian. It doesn't matter whether we are straight or gay.

It's a shame and a disgrace that so few people take part in the political process.

The vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have.

I couldn't say no to A. Philip Randolph and no to Martin Luther King, Jr. These two men, I loved them, I admired them, and they were my heroes.

Sometimes I hear people saying, 'Nothing has changed.' Come and walk in my shoes.

Too many of us still believe our differences define us.

We're one people, and we all live in the same house. Not the American house, but the world house.

Be hopeful. Be optimistic. Never lose that sense of hope.

Never become bitter, and in the process, be happy and just go for it.

We all live in the same house, we all must be part of the effort to hold down our little house. When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just... do something about it. Say something. Have the courage. Have the backbone. Get in the way. Walk with the wind. It's all going to work out.

You cannot be at home with something that you feel that is wrong, is not right.

I believe in forgiveness; I believe in trying to work with people.

I always felt growing up that in the South there was evil but also good - so much good.