Quotes About Representation

When I read Alison Bechdel's 'Fun Home,' it was the first time I saw drawings that looked like me.

To the best of my knowledge, I'm the first mom to hold the job of the White House Press Secretary.

I don't think the White House has always reflected the textures and flavors of this country.

As a man of colour, I've spent my life asking people to see me for who I am. With Obama in the White House, it feels like people have finally caught up to where I've been most of my life.

Being on 'House of Cards' really has given me so much more than just a job; the interactions I have had with real White House correspondents, other journalists and bloggers relating to my character Janine - and their thanking me for representing them - has been extraordinary.

It was important for me to join the White House because as I looked around Trump's inner circle and campaign, there were not a lot of African-Americans, particularly African-American women, uniquely positioned to serve as a member of the senior staff, to serve as an assistant to the president.

How can we even call this a Democracy when the House, the Senate, the White House, and now the Supreme Court are all controlled by the representatives of a minority group in America?

I think it's incredibly important that we think about diversity in the context of the White House press corps, because it's important that the group of people there is representative of the diversity that we see throughout the country.

Am I a Democrat? Yes, I'm a Democrat. But at the end of the day, when I take the oath as a senator it won't be to do the bidding of the Democratic Party or a president in the White House. I will be there to fight for the people of South Carolina.

The Trump White House would be known for its high placement of females in key roles if the media were even remotely honest about the facts.

Governing means governing all of the people, no matter what demographic it is, whether it'd be black, white, women, straight, gay, Republican.

Even without the euphoria of 'yes we can,' Hillary Clinton is to white women what Barack Obama was to African-Americans. She represents the opportunity to see a like image in the Oval Office for the first time.

If you have a march that's entirely white women or a march that maybe is entirely black women, it's going inspire those who look like them, which is fine. Our idea is that we want to inspire as diverse of a group of people as possible.

I want all types of people to look at my work and see themselves, just like I watch a Reese Witherspoon movie as a black woman and can empathize with her because we have had to internalize whiteness in that way to survive.

'The Cosby Show' was a show about black people that was fundamentally and unequivocally friendly to whiteness and to white people. The Huxtables had white friends.

The entertainment industry is a microcosm of the real world. To be 'othered' within the industry is a reflection of where we have been cast in the outside world, existing in the margins of society for decades witnessing cisgendered, heterosexual whiteness as the clearly defined default to which we must cater.

I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay taxes or bear arms (by no means excluding females).

I think the idea is now for blacks to write about the history of our music. It's time for that, because whites have been doing it all the time. It's time for us to do it ourselves and tell it like it is.

I think the legacy of the civil rights movement is that now whites are more open to being represented by people of color or people who are women or, again, non-traditional candidates.

First, take the government of the Indians out of politics; second, let the laws of the Indians be the same as those of the whites; third, give the Indian the ballot.

In west London where I live, white people are a minority. In the area I am in, which is the borough of Brent, whites are less than 50%.

I think Dr. King would be pleased to see the number of elected officials of color - African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans, and progressive whites.

Blacks are tired of seeing whites saying, 'I understand you.' You need a black to direct a black film.

Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?