Quotes About Representation

As far as working with Kanye and Solange, that was amazing. After 'Swing Lo Magellan', I needed a change. Getting to work in that capacity, writing for other people and working for other people as a writer and as a person who's not representing it as the front person or whatever - it's such a different perspective you can get.

There had never really been a female that was breaking down a swing. So when I'd walk into a clubhouse, I'd have to explain a little bit of who I was.

I did 'Kidulthood' and 'Adulthood,' and that's what people wanted and expect me to always do. They want me to do 'hood films and be the guy swinging baseball bats and saying 'Yo Blood' and beating up others in the street.

Depictions of race have changed so much since, like, the '50s, where white people just played every race. But the pendulum swings both ways: I'm Filipino-American. If I had to wait for a Filipino role to come out to get work, I couldn't eat. There are barely any roles out there.

I think if a Swiss watch can come to the country and have their own corporate stores, a Pakistani actor should come here and do a film here in India.

It's so weird to turn on a switch and be the role model for all women, for all African-Americans. That doesn't happen that easily. It just doesn't. And so I don't act up in public and I don't do anything weird - because my sisters are watching me, not because the world is watching me.

I would love to switch on my TV and see a disabled person talking about something they are genuinely interested in or acting out a part that doesn't just focus on their impairment.

I can see that 'Switched at Birth' is attracting audiences because of the diversity and the American Sign Language as well. American Sign Language is such a beautiful language, and people want more of that.

The availability of roles for deaf actors has always been very limited. After 'Switched at Birth' began including deaf actors, a ripple effect has definitely been created in the industry. 'Switched at Birth' has made an impact for the better.

While I have been to Switzerland, Stockholm, and other parts of Europe and Canada, I don't have a specific place that is my favorite. I just represent Earth.

I'm always proud to play for Switzerland, and that will always be something really special.

Media is a double-edged sword and has the power to change hearts and minds through authentic storytelling as well as the power to paint a person, or an entire community, in a dim and misleading light.

A mayor is a symbol and a public face of what a city bureaucracy provides its citizens.

We often find far more power in a symbol than in something that is an an actuality.

In the final analysis, a drawing simply is no longer a drawing, no matter how self-sufficient its execution may be. It is a symbol, and the more profoundly the imaginary lines of projection meet higher dimensions, the better.

I stand by 'Roots' as symbol of the fate of my people.

I have made it a point to reach out to the masses personally - so I am there as a symbol for the masses.

My election to the position of president is the symbol of the greatness of Indian democracy.

Rather than a big figure, I guess you could say I'm more of an influential minority symbol.

The modern work of art, as I have said, is a symbol.

This monument is going to be built as a symbol.

The 'movement' is paramount, the concept of 'family' is the symbol we wish to project.

Mr. Burns is a father symbol to me, and you can omit the word symbol.

I always look for characters that will hopefully develop into a more powerful symbol.