He said: "When I was 16 years old I swore that I would never, ever, set foot in Alabama or Mississippi. I don't know why I didn't include Florida or Georgia or the Carolina's; it was just Alabama and Mississippi. Those two places identified for me The South and all of the torture, the misery, the injustice, the "Strange Fruit", the burning churches, the shots in the night, everything about these places was frightening and repulsive to me, so I swore that I would remove them from my world. For me, it was that easy, even though I knew that wasn't an option to the people who lived there. For them, it was a twisted history that went back as far as time and showed no chance of changing before the pastor said the last words over the casket. But, I made up my mind early, before the marches, the dogs, the water cannons and all of the prayers and to this day I have held fast to my younger self's pledge. I haven't yet, and I never will. I just feel like I can't go back now. Even now, I can't go back there."

Stumble It!