Quotes About Diversity

In terms of trying to inspire other people with faith to play and stuff I am very proud of that. I remember seeing Muslim athletes or guys with other faiths performing and still carrying the label of being a religious person and it does inspire people.

I've spent my whole career trying to stay out of any box that anyone could put me in. 'I'm going to do a play now.' 'Now I'll do a musical.' That was my instinct. So I don't feel boxed in. But 'African-American woman' is part of my identity. I don't want to relinquish that - especially as a mother, helping my daughter find her identity.

That's something I like about drag - I get to do everything. Collaborative arts are hard for me because I don't really like to relinquish control.

We don't do things the same way everyone else does. We relish being different. We see that difference as an element that makes us more compelling to the consumer.

I don't personally do movies for myself and a faction of very cerebral cinephiles - I do it for everybody and wish for the largest amount of people to relish whatever they find they can relish in.

I've never been one to want to stay the same. Quite the opposite, I relish the chance to be different and unique.

There should be reluctance to make a national policy so inflexible that it fails to take into account the country's diversity.

A powerful way to sidestep America's reluctance to become postracial would be for more black Americans to become postnational.

There's never been anyone like Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, and there never will be. She is such an important source of inspiration for me, reluctant recipe writer and follower that I am.

Making African American films are hard in Hollywood. We need to rely on a support network and bring more cohesion to different filmmakers, actors, producers etc. It's a very difficult business. There aren't a lot of Africans Americans or people of color in high positions in Hollywood that we can green-light films.

There's definitely an obstacle in developing a brand for yourself that people can rely on when you're so eclectic.

It's nice to not have to rely on one person, whether it's offense or defense, whatever it may be - get some production everywhere.

It's important for the team not to be relying on one player.

I remain a humanist. We are a very curious race.

I've learned it's important to never lock yourself down into one thing - you need to remain fluid and open to all possibilities.

I'm French - it's less important. Meaning, I remain a Frenchman in America, but I adapt to American culture. I feel good there - but I'm still a foreigner.

I'd love to remain a secret and still work, but I also want people to see the movies I'm in and get a higher profile because of that. I like to think that as long as you continue choosing diverse roles, you can avoid becoming predictable.

I think it's important to change your hair up once in a while - not to always remain the same.

I remain convinced that I can be a true universalist only when I am a better Jew.

Crankiness is a human attribute that, when people walk in the door of Xerox, they remain human. The best way to get the best out of people is to not force them to be something other than they naturally are. Now what do they have to be? They have to be respectful. You can't be ridiculously disrespectful.

The two ethnic groups that remain fundamentally different from the Han Chinese - in terms of history, culture, language, religion and physical appearance - are the Uighurs and Tibetans. In these two groups, the Han Chinese come face to face with difference.

There was a time in the '90s where, as an African-American man, you had to be a misogynistic R&B star or a rapper, and I didn't fit into either one of those. I was advised by my label to remain closeted at that time.

Nothing prevents us from being and remaining the exponents of a united humanity, when we have a country of our own. To fulfill this mission we do not have to remain literally planted among the nations who hate and despise us.

We talk of a rainbow nation - in a country that remains dichotomized between black and white. We must acknowledge that the rainbow, in fact, is still a dream.