“For complicated historical and political reasons, we associate 'poor' ...” — J. D. Vance Quote

For complicated historical and political reasons, we associate 'poor' in our public consciousness with 'black.' Terms such as 'welfare queen' and 'culture of poverty' became associated uniquely with the social maladies of African Americans in urban ghettos, despite the fact that poor whites outnumbered poor blacks.

We need to ask questions about how we're going to give low-income kids who come from a broken home access to a loving home.

We are so isolated in our own little worlds, in our own little geographies, that it's pretty hard to understand where someone else is coming from. And so I think that we have to really think about what that means as a country and, frankly, whether this segregation that we have is durable over the long run.

Whether I'm speaking to conservative or liberal audiences, I don't find that people are close-minded about the things I say. I'm still optimistic that we can bridge a divide between these various bubbles. But I do think that it requires a little bit of effort.

We African Americans have now spent the major part of the 20th Century battling racism.

This is quite public knowledge. The South African government has said they're doing it. They've started seizing their first couple hundred farms.

I've been doing African dance all my life.

An African woman carries heavy loads anyway. That's how we are trained; we are brought up that nothing is unbearable. I use that now, positively. I use that now to have the thick skin that I have, and not fear, and move forward, and push; and push forward.

We're all Africans, everyone - black, white, yellow.