The large ensemble cast and the fact that it was being shot in New York, combined with a lot of strong positive images as far as African Americans are concerned, really turned me on to The Best Man.
After decades of persistent, courageous advocacy – often at risk to their own lives, livelihoods, and safety – African Americans succeeded in securing their right to a voice in our government, and their work laid the foundation for the social justice work of generations to follow.
I think Dr. King would be pleased to see the number of elected officials of color – African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and progressive whites.
Just because a black man is running the RNC doesn’t mean black folks are going to, ‘Oh, OK, I will be a Republican.’ Just as with the election of President Obama. All the problems and concerns that are very important to African Americans don’t get solved overnight.
We need to hire more black police officers in this country because these are good jobs, and African Americans should have their fair share of good jobs. But we shouldn’t do it because we think that’s going to change policing. We have to push for police reform in other ways.
My mom is a nurse; my dad is a pediatrician. They were born in the 1940s, and they were both inspired to fight against injustice, whether it was the injustices of the Vietnam War or Watergate or children in poverty or oppression of African Americans in Philadelphia where I was growing up.
Unfortunately, a lot of Silicon Valley venture capitalists are disconnected from African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color.
We must never forget that Black History is American History. The achievements of African Americans have contributed to our nation’s greatness.
I think African Americans are resilient and hustlers by nature. I think they need to understand that you can take that hustle to the boardroom, but it has to be an education process.
Barack Obama’s victories in 2008 and 2012 were dismissed by some of his critics as merely symbolic for African Americans. But there is nothing ‘mere’ about symbols.
During the Great Depression, African Americans were faced with problems that were not unlike those experienced by the most disadvantaged groups in society. The Great Depression had a leveling effect, and all groups really experienced hard times: poor whites, poor blacks.
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.
I think what happened during the Great Depression was that African Americans understood that Republicans championed citizenship and voting rights but they became impatient for economic emancipation.
Housing programs designed to help young families and senior citizens purchase homes should be available to people of all races, including African Americans.
Donald intends to represent all the people, not just some of the people. That includes Christians and Jews and Muslims; it includes Hispanics and African Americans and Asians, and the poor and the middle-class. Throughout his career, Donald has successfully worked with people of many faiths and with many nations.
I do believe that there are African Americans who have thick accents. My mom has a thick accent; my relatives have thick accents. But sometimes you have to adjust when you go into the world of film, TV, theatre, in order to make it accessible to people.
The power of Haitian heritage and the strength of the Haitian people is tremendous. And Haiti holds a unique and rich role in the history of African Americans.
Oddly enough, Asians are a much smaller ‘minority’ than African Americans in this country. But because Asians are so successful, college admission officers don’t feel sorry for them, so they are not a preferred ‘minority.’
Dwayne McDuffie was one of my favorite writers. When I was growing up, he was one of the few African Americans working in American comics.
I think there is a big difference between expressing the pain and anger that many African Americans and other people of color may feel versus language that I think now crosses the line and goes into hate.
The people who suffer in the Obama economy have been young people, African Americans, Hispanics, single moms.
People have been killing because of racial differences since the time of Adam and Eve, but in this country racism has been primarily aimed at African Americans.
American high school culture was impenetrable to me, and very cliquey: you had the Hispanics, the African Americans, the surfer guys and the goths and the immigrants. The jocks and the surfers got the girls. By the time I’d got to grips with it, I’d graduated.
The Democratic Party, the mainstream media are using fear to control people and to control African Americans in particular. You cannot function properly if you live in an irrational fear.
I would argue that the objective evidence shows that big government is not a friend to African Americans.
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