Quotes About Prejudice

When you say 'comic book' in America, people think of Mickey Mouse, and Archie. It has a connotation of juvenile.

I grew up with the idea that someone might hate you if they knew what religion you were; being afraid to open my mouth because my accent might make people think something about me. Or even if they didn't, would they understand me?

I was always curious about the anxiety a person would feel when you open your mouth and you have an accent. You could have a Ph.D. or be a lawyer, but as soon as you say something, you may be diminished in the eyes of someone else.

I just played one of the bad guys in Hercules 3D, and I had cornrows. People moved away from me in elevators, that's for sure. I wore them for about three months. After a while, they get a little gnarly, and you have to redo them.

I never thought I'd see the day that I would see white folks as frightened, or more so, than black folks was during the civil rights movement when we was in Mississippi.

I remember, growing up, you didn't wear an England shirt. The English flag was very much - and still is, to some extent - associated with the far-right movements of the 1980s that I grew up around.

I didn't come up in a culture or society that looked on me as a movie star. I was the bad guy. I was fortunate enough to be cast in some roles that weren't bad, were positive.

Why is it when a woman makes a film or a movie stars a female cast it is labeled women-centric because it is not white, male and middle-class men?

I was a paperboy first, then I worked at a movie theater. But I was a caddie at a golf club, which I didn't like. The people were so bougie and racist at times.

There are people that you don't like because you're jealous of them until you meet them. And you haven't read their book because it's had so much attention. Then you meet them and discover they've been jealous of you, and you become friends.

If you try to discuss multiculturalism in the U.K., you're labeled a racist.

I look like what we have taught society a lesbian looks like. I just do. I have the short hair. I got the muscles.

I know about homophobia in the music industry - not just in hip-hop. Obviously, we're dealing with homophobia in hip-hop; we're dealing with homophobia in the black community.

There's entrenched homophobia behind the scenes at all levels of the music industry.

I'm not gay, so I don't know much about Broadway musicals.

There's an incredibly grand attitude towards musicals. I don't understand why my profession is so snooty about it.

This is our culture, and I don't care who the musician is, if he avoids black people, then he is scared of something. He doesn't have confidence in himself or else he doesn't believe in what he's doing.

It's funny to find there are still people around who think if a musician has schooling, it automatically makes him a lesser jazz player. But you don't learn jazz in school.

There are so many times that, as a woman in the music industry, you're asked questions no male musician would ever be asked.

Nobody asks me about what male musicians I think about; I only ever get asked about females.

People see me as Andre first. Then they see me as someone who happens to be a Muslim.

If you say, 'I don't care if Muhammad Ali was a Muslim or not; he was just great,' what you're really saying is, 'I don't care about Muhammad Ali.' Same with Prince being black.

Americans have almost been conditioned to believe that the majority of people who seek to do us harm are those of Muslim descent.

It makes me furious to hear haters of all skin colors - especially Christian, Jewish, and Muslim fundamentalists - deride other people because of their different beliefs and lifestyles.