I believe that every person is born with talent. I believe talent is like electricity. We don’t understand electricity. We use it. You can plug into it and light up a lamp, keep a heart pump going, light a cathedral, or you can electrocute a person with it. Electricity will do all that. It makes no judgment. I think talent is like that. I believe every person is born with talent. I am overwhelmed by the grace and persistence of my people. In today's climate in our country, which is sickened with the pollution of pollution, threatened with the prominence of AIDS, riddled with burgeoning racism, rife with growing huddles of the homeless, we need art and we need art in all forms. We need all methods of art to be present, everywhere present, and all the time present. How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! If you have only one smile in you, give it to the people you love. Don't be surly at home, then go out in the street and start grinning 'Good morning' at total strangers. Effective action is always unjust. Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage. At fifteen life had taught me undeniably that surrender, in its place, was as honorable as resistance, especially if one had no choice. As far as I knew white women were never lonely, except in books. White men adored them, Black men desired them and Black women worked for them. | 
