"Since the prophetic fire lit by hope has been so damped by neo-liberal chatter about 'hope,' I prefer to be a hope rather than talk about hope. Being a hope is being in motion, on the move with body on the line, mind set on freedom, soul full of courage, and heart shot through with love. Being a hope is forging moral and spiritual fortitude, putting on intellectual armor, and being willing to live and die for the empowerment of the wretched of the earth.

"Race matters in the twenty-first century are part of a moral and spiritual war over resources, power, souls, and sensibilities. In the face of the American way of war — defeat, destroy, devastate — I have the black freedom struggle and the Black musical tradition. I also pull from the rich resources of the LGBTQ communities, the feminist movement, Indigenous peoples' struggles, the environmental justice and otherly abled communities, and immigrant rights and anti-imperialist organizations. This moral and spiritual way of war — remembrance, reverence, and resurrection — yields a radical love and revolutionary praxis. We remember the great visionary and exemplary figures and movements. These precious memories focus our attention on things that really matter — not spectacle, image, money and status but integrity, honesty, dignity and generosity. This focus locates and situates us in along tradition of love warriors — not just polished professionals or glitzy celebrities — but courageous truth tellers who fell in love with the quest of justice, freedom, and beauty. And all great love — like John Coltrane’s 'A Love Supreme' — is resurrectionary. All great love transforms death into new life, turns your world upside-down, shatters callousness and indifference, frees you to treat people more decently and humanely, and bids you to choose a life of struggle with a smile and style, and greet the worms after our time in the world with a warm welcome of 'I lived, I loved, I laughed, and I went down swinging like Muhammad Ali and Ella Fitzgerald!’"