Amy Tan Quotes

I don't want to be considered 'the Latino rapper.'

Some Indians will come up and say that a story reminded them of something very specific to their experience. Which may or may not be the case for non-Indians.

As an Italian-American, I have a special responsibility to be sensitive to ethnic stereotypes.

And why is our music called world music? I think people are being polite. What they want to say is that it's third world music. Like they use to call us under developed countries, now it has changed to developing countries, it's much more polite.

What I would not do is flaunt my Indianess by wearing a saree to work everyday, because it distracts from the job. So, I would not do that. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Social events are different. If I feel comfortable in a saree for a social event, I wear it.

It's interesting: I think, as a Latino actor, the biggest challenge is being called 'Latino' because immediately, the world has a perception of what that means.

I've never been one to bow down to people who try to question my identity because I don't fit their mould of what an Aboriginal Australian is supposed to be or look like.

Somebody told me once I wasn't Latin enough, and that made me laugh.

Some things are really sacred and important to other cultures, so you have to be aware, politically, about those things before you just adopt them.

It's important to tell the story you're telling in the right way, which might involve black people or people of whatever heritage or ethnicity - or it might not.

I'm not very happy to be classified as another Japanese designer. There is no one characteristic that all Japanese designers have.

I think there's a misconception that all Asian-American experiences are the same. My experiences with my family and the way they wanted me to know my culture are not the same as others.

At about the age of seven … I wrote exactly the kinds of stories I was reading: All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played in the snow, they ate apples, and they talked a lot about the weather: how lovely it was that the sun had come out. This despite the fact that I lived in Nigeria; we didn’t have snow, we ate mangoes, and we never talked about the weather, because there was no need to.

That's what I loved about 'Community' - we had one of the most diverse casts on TV, but we didn't emphasize culture. And yet, we also didn't run away from it.

You're not from Puerto Rico, so you should say Puerto Rico like all the other people from the place that you come from.

I never thought fashion was the job for me, because I'm Japanese. Clothes! That was a European, society thing.

It's good to be proud of your heritage and your culture, but pride can be perverted.

There is an imagined thing called black culture. But culture is a construction. It is learned behavior, not innate. The black American experience is the American experience.

There is no 'generic' Latina.

What I want to tell people is that you can mix the culture a little bit and it's not always appropriation.

I often hear things like, 'You don't look Latina enough,' and that mentality is so backwards. The fact is, I am Latina, so how are you going to tell me that I don't look Latina?

It's a classic error in American discourse: the conflation of race with culture.

Yoga is not Indian; it does not belong to India.

I would get a lot of roles for the ethnic friend and then I would go in for that and not be ethnic enough. They wanted an Indian accent. They wanted something more very visually, clearly specific.

I think of Westernized culture as a good visual for my music.