Countless black citizens in the South couldn't vote. They were second-class citizens from cradle to grave. The discrimination was terrible, brutal.
Government social programs introduced in the '60s by liberal Democratic politicians seduced black men into relying on 'programs' over God.
I think as a whole America is dealing with the issue of homophobia. We got to be really honest about whether we believe in civil rights for all people or not. As Black people we need to remember the moment that we say it's okay to disenfranchise one segment of society, we're opening the door to move backward on ourselves.
I went to a segregated school; I was born a Negro, not a black man.
Where are the exhortations for children to reject the self-defeating stereotypes that reduce black people to violent, oversexed 'gangstas,' minstrel show comedians and mindless athletes?
I think Black people need to take self-esteem seriously.
Unlike earlier black-power movements that tried to fight or segregate for self-preservation, Black Lives Matter aligns with the dead, continues the mourning, and refuses the forgetting in front of all of us.
We know what happens to little black boys that have no dads; we've heard that, we get it. But no one is really saying that young women who are born without fathers have real serious issues especially when their mother had no father and the mother has issues.
Without a doubt, the majority of historical period dramas tend to be told from a certain perspective. At least in America, black people have some visibility in period dramas, although it's usually in the form of slaves or servitude.
As a black woman, I have no particular interest in maintaining the status quo. Why would I? The status quo is harmful; the status quo is significantly racist and sexist and a whole bunch of other things that I think need to change.
I grew up on Shane Black movies, and I grew up on Joel Silver movies.
It's Shane Black. He's a world unto himself. His world is so fun and crazy.
When I make a film about a physically challenged person, I come away with so much. I learn to value what I have. My survival instinct sharpened after 'Black' and 'Guzaarish.'
I was trained within a black radical tradition that encouraged struggle within our own movements because it sharpens collective analysis - bringing us closer to the tools we need to achieve liberation.
I am excited to have a black president because white supremacy is real and it needs to be shattered.
Every red stripe in that flag represents the black man's blood that has been shed.
Shirley Temple opens doors for Shirley Temple Black.
Shirley Temple doesn't hurt Shirley Temple Black. Shirley Temple helps Shirley Temple Black. She is thought of as a friend - which I am!
Patrick Demarchelier was the one who got me my first 'Vogue' cover. It was French 'Vogue' - I think in '87 or '88. I think I was the first black model to be on the cover of French Vogue, which was shocking to me because when I asked them about it, they were like, 'Oh, no. We've never had that before.'
Ever since I made the short film 'Black And White,' which had almost no dialogues, the idea of making a silent feature film fascinated me.
