African American Quotes - Page 23

• I miss friends and family. If it weren't for visits from old friends and other African Americans I meet who come to Cuba, I'd probably be in some kind of time warp.

  Assata Shakur

  Missing, Old Friends, Family And Friends

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• People ask me if I miss the States. I miss African Americans. But not the U.S. government or all the things they put me through. I miss African American culture, our speech, dance and cooking.

  Assata Shakur

  Government, People, Missing

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• I love the fact that a lot of my audience is people from the inner city. African-Americans love my films.

  Wes Craven

  Cities, People, Facts

  Interview with Scott Tobias, www.avclub.com. March 11, 2009.

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• It is not possible to erase racism just because African-Americans have reached a level of financial success and crossover appeal.

  Farrah Gray

  Racism, Levels, Financial

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• I love my own culture. I love my African-American culture very deeply, and I know it deserves to be honored. You have to be aware that people are suffering unjustly, and given our own history we have a duty to stand for the people who are being treated like our parents and grandparents and children were treated.

  Alice Walker

  Children, People, Grandparent

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• I felt hopeful for the future because Obama is here. But nothing has changed. It's time for young kids to get serious again and really think about what their four fathers were like. As African-Americans, we are resilient, we are some bad mf-ers, and we are survivors. So get those i-pods out of their ears and become heroes again like the Freedom Riders.

  Lee Daniels

  Father, Hero, Kids

  Source: blogs.indiewire.com

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• Oh, I love labels, as long as they are numerous. I'm an American writer. I'm a Nigerian writer. I'm a Nigerian American writer. I'm an African writer. I'm a Yoruba writer. I'm an African American writer. I'm a writer who's been strongly influenced by European precedents. I'm a writer who feels very close to literary practice in India - which I go to quite often - and to writers over there.

  Teju Cole

  Practice, Long, India

  "Teju Cole on the 'Empathy Gap' and Tweeting Drone Strikes". Interview with Sarah Zhang, www.motherjones.com. March 6, 2013.

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• One of the great things about African-Americans is that we've always had this attitude: We make do with what we got. It comes from our ancestors being slaves.

  Spike Lee

  Attitude, Slave, Ancestor

  "So What's On Your Mind, Spike Lee?". Interview with Stacey Wilson Hunt, www.hollywoodreporter.com. January 17, 2012.

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• My intention is not to repudiate an African American identity but perhaps to resist how labels take hold, or to make it as slow a process as possible. That's more my sense of it.

  Mark McMorris

  Identity, Labels, Intention

  Source: www.raintaxi.com

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• I think it's a wonderful thing to have African-American characters. Look at life. It's not a white world or a black world; there are all kind of people in it. It's showing growth, and in today's world there are so many outlets.

  Darius McCrary

  Character, Thinking, White

  "The Darius McCrary Interview- The Young and the Restless". Interview with Michael Fairman, michaelfairmansoaps.com. December 22, 2009.

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• I'm not against knowing the history of white people in the U.S. - that's not the point. The point is that there's so much greater history. We don't know about Native Americans. Very basically, we don't know that much about African American history, except that they were enslaved. You only get bits and pieces.

  Luis J. Rodriguez

  Native American, White, Knowing

  Source: bluemesareview.org

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• Teachers and librarians can be the most effective advocates for diversifying children's and young adult books. When I speak to publishers, they're going to expect me to say that I would love to see more books by Native American authors and African-American authors and Arab-American authors. But when a teacher or librarian says this to publishers, it can have a profound effect.

  Pat Mora

  Teacher, Children, Book

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

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• Michigan is very racially separated and the city of Detroit itself is 84 percent African-American and the surrounding suburbs are 86 percent White.

  Kwame Kilpatrick

  Cities, White, Michigan

  Source: www.finalcall.com

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• I don't think there has been any mayor in America scrutinized that way. I don't think there has been any mayor as a matter of fact, Coleman Young I think received an incredible amount of scrutiny and he was kind of the poster child for that in Detroit. He was the first Black mayor who really expressed his manhood in a different way than had been seen from African-American man that was projected across the country.

  Kwame Kilpatrick

  Country, Children, Men

  Source: www.finalcall.com

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• I did want to mark the fact that it was the first African-American to win the Lead Actress category.I thought it was so progressive.

  Viola Davis

  Winning, Want, Firsts

  Source: www.usmagazine.com

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• Now goverments are a different thing. Presidents who do not want me. As I said, an African-American discriminates against an indigenous Bolivian. Well, they have their reasons, but sooner or later we will all be judged.

  Evo Morales

  President, Different, Want

  Interview with David Hirschman, bigthink.com. September 22, 2010.

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• With Bolivia, I had hope that a discriminated African-American, with another discriminated indigenous peasant leader, I hoped that together we could work for justice and equality. Not only for just two countries, Bolivia and USA, but for equality around the world.

  Evo Morales

  Country, Usa, Two

  Interview with David Hirschman, bigthink.com. September 22, 2010.

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• African Americans were responsible for creating a lot of this beautiful and elaborate ironwork; we weren't just working in the cotton fields.

  Philip Freelon

  Beautiful, Creating, Cotton

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• I always say African American history is the quintessential American story. It's about perseverance and resilience - something everyone can relate to.

  Philip Freelon

  Perseverance, Resilience, Stories

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• The number of African Americans in my profession is woefully small; about two percent of architects in the country are black. I'd like to see more diversity. That's why whenever I'm asked to speak at middle and high schools I always say yes.

  Philip Freelon

  Country, School, Two

  Source: www.nbcnews.com

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• When I'm on stage, I'm trying to do one thing: bring people joy. Just like church does. People don't go to church to find trouble, they go there to lose it.

  James Brown

  People, Joy, Church

  "James Brown: The Godfather of Soul". Book by James Brown, Bruce Tucker, 1986.

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• We have more people in jail than any other country in Earth, disproportionately Latino and African-American.

  Bernie Sanders

  Country, Jail, People

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• It's undeniable there's been remarkable progress for African-Americans in this country. They've been elected senators and governors and running major corporations. But obviously we still have a long way to go.

  Dana Bash

  Country, Running, Long

  "McConnell: Race relations have 'gotten better' under Obama" by Eric Bradner, www.cnn.com. December 8, 2014.

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• In fashion, there's a lack of strong male images. And there's a huge lack of strong African American images. I noticed over the past thirteen years, Ralph and those guys have used guys that looked similar to me. And I was happy for those guys, but eventually I said, 'Enough is enough, I'm just going to go in and take my job back.'

  Tyson Beckford

  Fashion, Strong, Jobs

  "Tyson Beckford on Modeling, Zoolander, and Racism in the Fashion Industry". Interview with Jonathan Evans, www.esquire.com. January 17, 2014.

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• There is a level of disrespect for the office that occurs. And that occurs in some cases and maybe even many cases because he is African American. There’s no question about that and it’s the kind of thing nobody ever says but everybody’s thinking it.

  Oprah Winfrey

  Thinking, Office, Disrespect

  "Oprah: Obama Attacked In Many Cases Because He's Black". www.realclearpolitics.com. November 14, 2013.

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