Quotes About Race

Ninety-five percent of my audience was white.

A large percentage of my father's patients were African-American.

I think 'In The Heat Of The Night' was one of the most influential films on me. Looking back now, I can see how influential it was on my screenwriting because here you have what looks to be a crime procedural, and it's actually a study in race and loneliness, and a perception of an era.

I do think I can change the perception of the 'Bachelorette.' And not just because of my race.

I am performing this role of the artist and this role of the 'negress' coming into a white-box institution. It's kind of a self-appointed role: the self-designated negress.

For many gay and bisexual men of color, economic inequalities add to the pernicious effects of oppression and homophobia.

There's still people who think me being married to a sista is an act. What, you think I'd make that up for a persona?

One race there is of men, one of gods, but from one mother we both draw our breath.

The race of gods and men is one, and from one mother we both draw our breath. Yet all the difference in our power holds us apart, so that man is nothing, but the brazen floor of heaven is eternally unshakable.

Greatness alone in not enough, or the cow would outrun the hare.

I was taught from a young age that many people would treat me as a second-class citizen because I was African-American and because I was female.

white folks can never comprehend a situation where they can't be forgiven for past transgressions).

India is there to unite all human races. Because of that reason in India we have not been given the unity of races.

The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us the less taste we shall have for the destruction of our race. Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction. { Speech accepting the John Burroughs Medal }

I learned something important in my race against Senator Brown: voters want political leaders who are willing to break the partisan gridlock. They want fewer closed-door roadblocks and more public votes on legislation that could improve their lives.

Hillary Clinton could say she was a woman and running for president. And Sarah Palin could say she was a woman and running for vice-president. But Obama couldn't say, 'I'm black and I'm running for president.' It couldn't come out of his mouth. He couldn't say that because, if he did, he'd lose votes.

That's what Democrats do best: breed black votes.

When members of a certain party concoct various devious schemes to suppress votes, purposely misinform potential voters, spread vile untrue filth about certain candidates, play the race, gender and religious cards, and literally tamper with vote tallies, then we are not a truly representative government!

Party affiliations based on issues such as class or race are slowly eroding. Against this backdrop, gathering data about voting intentions remains necessary, but insufficient.

Voting for a candidate solely because of that candidate's support for abortion or against him or her solely on the basis of his or her race is to promote an intrinsic evil. To do so consciously is indeed sinful. That is behavior incompatible with being a Christian.

Despite allegations by liberal advocacy groups that voter suppression tactics by the right hindered minority voting, blacks represented 13 percent of the electorate in 2012, a percentage about equivalent with 2008.

I think often about my ancestors who struggled for freedom, and as I think of those giants and their broad shoulders, I also think about Joe Biden, who says, 'If you are not voting for me, you ain't black.'

As a black woman in a nation that has taken too many pains to remind me that I am not a white man and am not capable of taking care of my reproductive rights or my voting rights, I know that this American god ain't my god.

A black man of my generation born in the late 1960s is more than twice as likely to go to prison in his lifetime then a black man of my father's generation. I was born after the Voting Rights Act, after the Civil Rights Act, after the Fair Housing Act.