African American Quotes - Page 29

• There's a place in me that can really relate to being the underdog. I'm always fighting to overcome the obstacle. I can really understand what's that about.

  Halle Berry

  Fighting, Challenges, Underdog

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• I was well known to African Americans before Bill Clinton discovered me. He was like Christopher Columbus riding up on something he didn't understand.

  Sister Souljah

  Riding, Bills, Columbus

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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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• Like any group that has endured much, African Americans have created a strong and mutually reinforcing sense of group identity. That's not a bad thing in and of itself.

  J. C. Watts

  Strong, Identity, Groups

  "What Color is a Conservative?". Book by Chriss Winston and J. C. Watts, abcnews.go.com. October 22, 2002.

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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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• There are more African Americans under correctional control, in prison or jail, on probation or parole, than were enslaved in 1850 a decade before the civil war began.

  Michelle Alexander

  War, Jail, Felons

  "The mass incarceration of the Black community: an interview with Michelle Alexander, author of ‘The New Jim Crow’". Interview with Minister of Information JR Valrey, sfbayview.com. April 4, 2012.

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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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• KFC is not black owned, but it sure knows to market heavily to African Americans - obviously hoping we won-t care about what they do the underdog, or in this case, the underchicken - So, if KFC wants to take our money and use it to pay for sloppy practices that hurt animals?I say we send them a message that this is not going to happen. I-m calling on people to boycott KFC until they adopt animal welfare systems recommended by PETA and until they stop the worst abuses of the birds they raise for their restaurants.

  Bill Vaughan

  Hurt, Animal, Practice

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• This feeling African-Americans have, this skepticism towards the police and the skepticism that the police show towards African-Americans is actually quite old. And it may be one of the most durable aspects of the relationship between black people and their country really in our history.

  Ta-Nehisi Coates

  Country, People, Police

  Source: www.pbs.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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• I don't use the term "black" very often. I use the term African-American more than I use "black".

  Rick Santorum

  Black, Use, Term

  Source: www.foxnews.com

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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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• 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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• Homicide through gun violence is the leading cause of death among young African American males in the United States. If people look a certain way they have a higher tendency of dying, of having their lives taken away.

  Ryan Coogler

  Taken, Gun, People

  "Fruitvale Station's success a 'surprise' for first-time director Ryan Coogler" by Rory Carroll, www.theguardian.com. July 30, 2013.

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