I just heard you on Fox News, and I felt I had to respond.

A little story: when I was in Jr. High School a friend of mine, Billy, had just about had not being able to say "black" in 1956 Boston without being made fun of by the white people; I mean whether you were talking about a car or a person. He started down the street after school yelling, "I'm black and I'm proud of it!" at the top of his lungs to everyone within earshot. Because he was my friend, I joined him. Pretty soon there were about 7 or 8 of us, from all races, saying the same thing (would you believe a Mohegan Indian? Or an Irish kid?). An old black man was seated on a stoop at the end of the street. He called me over and asked, What are you saying, son?" When I repeated it, he jumped up and started hopping around. "Do you know how long I've been waiting to hear that?" he said. "Now I know everything will be all right."