Amiri Baraka Quotes

I am black, and there's no getting around that, but being black doesn't define every aspect of my life.

I don't see a white woman. I see a black woman, even though my mother is white. Knowing that has made my life easier, I think.

I'm black, I don't feel burdened by it and I don't think it's a huge responsibility. It's part of who I am. It does not define me.

I know I'm a black actor, but really, I'm an actor who happens to be black.

I just hope that when black people look at me, they don't see someone superhuman. They see themselves.

I definitely am not white.

Growing up, I played hockey because I loved playing it. I didn't view myself in minor hockey as a Black hockey player, but I was also aware that I was.

Well who's black and what is a black person?

I am an African-American in America. That will never change. But I don't have to be defined by that.

There were only ever two black kids at my school. I never considered myself to be 'a black kid'. I was who I was. Which isn't to say things haven't happened to me that wouldn't have happened if I wasn't black.

Everyone knows I'm black. I am who I am. This is the person that Lester Sr. and June Holt raised, and I make no apology for it. At the same time, I'm never going to pull a race card to get what I want. You can't have it both ways.

I don't mind being black. I'm black out loud. It's more than the people that they are, it's the condition that they represent.

On the one hand, there is no reason that a black person needs to live a portion of his or her life being concerned about the people of color around him. On the other hand, if you don't you're crazy.

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.

I'm of African descent and my sister looks completely black, but I didn't look black. I was the super-nerdy kid who was also willing to fight.

I've never been one to carry race on my sleeve, and I've never been one to really use my race.

I don't see myself as a 'black actor,' I'm just Shemar Moore the actor.

I am struck by how, walking down the street, I'm rarely made aware of my race, but that among journalists, race is absolutely massive.

I never learned how to be adequately black. I never learned how to be black at all.

The race is your face. Obviously, I come from a mixed background. Who I am and how I look and being black.

I don't see myself as a 'black actor,' I'm just Shemar Moore the actor. I'm very proud to be black, but I'm just as much black as I am white.

That doll looks more like a black man than me.

I'm black because that's the way the world sees me.

I don't look like a white woman. I look Somali.

I think, as a black man, I have a responsibility to have knowledge and have an opinion.