I think it is very important for young people to know that, if you follow your heart and do what you believe in, it will always work out for you.

It's a good day. A lot of convictions and a lot of hard fighting on both sides, but I believe with every ounce of my being that we did the right thing today. Nobody apologizes for where we're headed.

I'm not in the music business; I'm in music, ... What I love to do has evolved, technically and harmonically, but it's not as marketable. This record company isn't for trying to make commercial records for a particular market. It's an outlet to expose the music and energy I believe in and for those who are looking for something more, it offers an option.

Republicans and Democrats have used accounting gimmicks and competing government analyses to deceive the public into believing that 2 + 2 = 6. If our leaders cannot agree on the numbers, if 'facts' are fictional, how can they possibly have a substantive debate on solutions?

I believe in these kids, and I've been around this program. We've got some really good things going here, and I really wanted to take it over because it's too important to have somebody who knows them and knows what they are capable of.

Reparations, I believe, are talked about for political reasons, trying to cater for the purpose of getting votes. If Congress was serious about reparations - in '93 and '94 the Democrats controlled the House, the Senate and the White House, and not one single Republican vote was needed for reparations.

The more I ponder some of the boneheaded decisions GOP candidates have made of late, I can't bring myself to believe that they are serious about capturing more than about 8 percent of the black vote.