There are no black film composers doing the likes of Star Wars, doing the likes of E.T., doing the likes of Jurassic Park. There are none, nor will there ever be one. That ain’t about to happen! – J. J. Johnson
For me, as a child, I certainly thought that there were more black people in the world than white people. – Keegan-Michael Key
I think that black people, to a degree, need to have a certain level of dexterity. If we want to be at the highest level of whatever our field is, we have to be able to navigate both worlds. We all just know that you gotta be able to put that suit on and have a conversation with people that don’t look like you or your family. – Mahershala Ali
Anybody that’s ever been to Israel and to Palestine knows that you can’t look at a person and tell if they’re Israeli or Palestinian. You can assume. But I’ve seen Palestinians who look Swedish, and I’ve seen Israelis who are black. – Keith Ellison
I was brought up in black neighborhoods in South Baltimore. And we really felt like we were very black. We acted black and we spoke black. When I was a kid growing up, where I came from, it was hip to be black. To be white was kind of square. – Jerry Leiber
Some of the free lunch programs were still goin’ on – based on the last leg of the Black Panther Party. – Kool Moe Dee
At one time, you could sit on the Rue de la Paix in Paris or at the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv or in Medina and you could see a person come in, black, white, it didn’t matter. You said, ‘That’s an American’ because there’s a readiness to smile and to talk to people. – Maya Angelou
It’s possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don’t have to be a thug to get love from black people. – Mos Def
I spent seven months in Africa and came back saying there isn’t anything you can say about black people that you couldn’t say about, say, pink people except that they’re black. – Larry Rivers
I am so used to having two faces. A face that I had for black America and a face for white America. When Obama became president, I lost both faces. Now I only have one face. – Lee Daniels
Ebonics – or black English, as I prefer to call it – is one of a great many dialects of English. And so English comes in a great many varieties, and black English is one of them. – John McWhorter
Because as a youngster I longed to see the Black man free and I longed to see anyone stand up for us. – Louis Farrakhan
I have very little fashion sense, and to tell you the truth, I give it very little thought. I dress to be as comfortable as I possibly can. Most of my clothing is either black, grey, or dark blue, and I don’t really wear a lot of colours. But I do like jackets. I have a little bit of an obsession with them. – Leonardo DiCaprio
I wanted to do something heroic if I was going to be on TV. And the first thing that appeals to me once I have decided I don’t want to be the bad guy is to find things that are not black and white. – Kevin Bacon
I found literary idols in Adrienne Kennedy, Nella Larsen, and Ntozake Shange, writers who’d dared to locate a sanctioned, forbidden space between white vulnerability and black invincibility. – Margo Jefferson
I give thanks for the fact that I can get this stick with a bit of steel nib on the end, dip it in some black carbon stuff, and draw on paper. Now, people did it the same way 2,000 years ago. And there’s something lovely about that play, and making mud pies and a mess. That’s a lovely privilege. – Michael Leunig
I was really into Black Sabbath, but heavy guitars can really be very limiting, it’s a great frequency and it’s great fun to listen to but on the other hand, musically you can do a lot more without it. – Kip Winger
If I had the gift of Jerry Seinfeld, of Bill Cosby, of Lewis Black, these instinctively brilliant comic minds, then you go that route! But you gotta know your limitations. I’m more of an actor, more of a process guy. I did Tom Snyder, just as Danny Aykroyd did on ‘SNL.’ I did it in the club. – Joe Piscopo
When I go in to see people – and I sell an occasional ad now – I never say, ‘Help me because I am black’ or ‘Help me because I am a minority.’ I always talk about what we can do for them. – John H. Johnson
I really bristle when I get called to events and people introduce me as one of the top black anchors in the country. You know, that’s very insulting. I’m striving to be one of the best anchors in the country. Handcuff me like that. What you’re saying is, ‘You’re black. You should only expect to rise to the level of the best at being black.’ – Lester Holt
I can’t have brown hair for some reason. I don’t think it goes with my skin tone. The second I see it turn brown in the sun, I dye it black – the blacker the better. – Kylie Jenner
Which is probably the reason why I work exclusively in black and white… to highlight that contrast. – Leonard Nimoy
I had to confront my fears and master my every demonic thought about inferiority, insecurity, or the fear of being black, young, and gifted in this Western culture. – Lauryn Hill
If ‘Black Balloon’ had come out before ‘The Mummy,’ casting agents wouldn’t have been able to see me for the first time in ‘The Mummy.’ But now that ‘The Mummy’ has come out before ‘The Black Balloon,’ that’s a very good combination. – Luke Ford
At the end of all this, Russia held in her hands a vast belt of land running from the Baltic sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south, comprising eleven nations with a population of 100 million people. – John T. Flynn