“I always felt that I had to leave a legacy on the African continent. A...” — Dikembe Mutombo Quote

“I always felt that I had to leave a legacy on the African continent. As I was only the third player to come to the NBA from Africa, I felt I had to do my best to recruit more young Africans to come and play in the NBA - and also find a way to bring the NBA to Africa.”

“When I go to China, people call me 'Uncle Mo' because they refer me as Yao Ming's uncle. I'm pleased to be his uncle as long as he listens to me!”

“After spending more than 17 years playing for the NBA, in the summertime, I always came back to community service and different basketball clinics.”

“I believe in the Democratic party, and their philosophy and what they stand for - for the poor people.”

“I was not very strong growing up, and my uncle used to look at me, like, 'This kid is not growing up, he is growing tall but he can be broken like a banana.' The banana in Congo is called 'Dikembe.' So my uncle start calling me, 'Dikembe, Dikembe, look at you Dikembe, you cannot even stand up.' It took a long time for me to walk.”

“Our most polluted neighborhoods are disproportionately home to Latinos, African Americans, and other communities of color.”

“I'll make a general comment about this whole dependence on 'celebrities.' I object to this situation as it is right now, where they have inadvertently or manipulatively become the spokespeople for the African continent.”

“Jazz was the beginning of rhythm music, which developed into rock and roll. But what the jazz musicians lost because they were so far from their homeland was the intricate rhythms of African music.”

“The world owes an ecological debt to the African continent.”

“A group of white South Africans recently killed a black lawyer because he was black. That was wrong. They should have killed him because he was a lawyer.”

“The African American community is so under-served in the entertainment industry.”