Quotes About Representation

I have to tell you, though, the sexism in late night talk is so profound.

There haven't been enough profound things written about what being black means and what a black character is. Nobody knows.

It's profound to watch a little African-American girl light up when she raps as George Washington and she realizes that Washington's story is her story. That this history belongs to all of us.

Shows like 'Empire'... one of the most profound powerful things is that there's a gay male character who is loved. That character is going to save a lot of people's lives. Black families are confronting the idea that a gay black character can be human.

Well, if you look at the programme that we're offering, I think that is a future which is fair for women as well as men. We're still heavily outnumbered - we're still four to one in parliament - but we are pioneers! We are forging a new path.

The way we have been programmed and conditioned to think about the black kid being an athlete, it's like every young black boy people would see say 'what sport do you play?' instead of just asking 'what do you do?' 'What are you interested in?'

There are 2 to 3 million women programmers in the world. We need to see them more.

I believe that if we want to change our industry we must look beyond what we see on our TV screens and fix the bigger problems lying beneath. When it comes to racial diversity that means looking at who commissions and makes the programmes.

I think a lot of the political programmes have decided that most people aren't interested in politics, so they broadcast only for people who are.

Since I began presenting programmes about black history my life has become a constant impromptu focus group. I am stopped in the street by people who want to talk about the histories those documentaries explore.

If you look at the coverage of female sports and athletics across any of the broadcasters that participate in league rights and/or sports programming, women are underrepresented, and it's a chance and an opportunity for Lifetime to support that movement and the importance of athletics and competition for girls and women.

There's not a lot of gay programming on TV.

I have been watching male programming all my life. And I'm completely interested in it. Like, I love 'Breaking Bad' and I like 'Game of Thrones.'

I love that we've chipped away at the celluloid closet and have wonderful programs that feature gay and lesbian characters in really rich, fully developed ways.

Girls are interested in computers, there just are not many programs out there for them.

I wanted to make an Indian character who wasn't either a) the savage that must be eliminated, the force of nature that's blocking the way for industrial progress, or b) the noble innocent that knows all and is another cliche. I wanted him to be a complicated human being.

'Outlander' is progressive in the way it looks at women.

On 'Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce,' we have a mandate to hire as many women as possible, but particularly on a show that is about women and about progressive issues like that.

I'm a Palestinian-Muslim, but I'm also a progressive.

Progressives want a different sort of media than what the Right wants.

It's not enough just to elect people of color and women of color and progressives. We need to make sure that they have a work plan and that they are - continue to align with the communities that helped get them to where they're at.

There are many projects I couldn't get off the ground because they didn't have white heroes. It's a problem that everyone who's been working in Hollywood has been facing.

I don't like to see projects that are all black or all white. It's how life is. I do like to make sure that I do a nice black family film; that's like keeping my home base. I do other things, but I like to always come back to a positive family film, because of all the negative influences today.

I feel like because I've done more gay characters, gay scenes, or gay projects than most straight actors, people see it as some sort of mission. It's more of a case-by-case basis, and just trying to capture figures that I love. I guess that a lot of the figures that I love were gay.