This country has always been run by elite, and it's an elitist democracy. And that's not a radical concept. It's elitist democracy. When people talk about democracy, they don't talk - really talk about participatory democracy, until the point that we get us at Election Day.

What happened to Haiti is a threat that could happen anywhere in the Caribbean to these island nations, you know, because of global warming, because of climate change and all this.

When you've moved past a point where you're just scrambling for jobs, you think about the things that you want to do. And the things that you want to do are governed by what you've seen, what you choose to embrace.

But I think it's very key that there's a plan for Haiti. And we have to begin to - as progressives and people who are concerned about Haiti and have been concerned about Haiti, we have to begin to build some sort of consensus, a movement around the Haiti that the Haitians envision.

If we talk about literacy, we have to talk about how to enhance our children's mastery over the tools needed to live intelligent, creative, and involved lives.

I was able to do To Sleep with Anger, a very powerful film about African Americans, their spirituality, and the things that happened within a small community and a family.

If we look at Houston, which is a very environmentally toxic place, we find that it has one of the highest levels of young men going to prison and also among the highest levels of illiteracy in the country.

But rarely have I made choices that made me feel I was really compromising what I believe.

I never thought about being an actor.

I try to find hope in struggle and resistance in small places as much as I can.

I was able to do The Saint of Fort Washington, on the relationship between two homeless men.

I'm a child of the Civil Rights Movement.

I'm not so vain as to believe that my involvement changes anything whatsoever.

I've always been able to make choices that don't embarrass me.

I've been a Goodwill Ambassador for the UNICEF and the UNICEF family for more than twelve years.

One of the main purveyors of violence in this world has been this country.

We have to be that wedge that drives the question and asks the hard questions.

Well I don't know because I don't have a real relationship with the industry.

You know, we do not want the militarization of Haiti. We do not see a Haitian as a protectorate where it relinquishes its own sovereignty.

Every day of my life I walk with the idea that I am black, no matter how successful I am. And our success is tempered by that; you're successful in this way given the fact you are black, and most blacks don't get to that point.