Leslie Odom Jr. Quotes

I don't think there is enough understanding of how diverse black America actually is.

There isn't just one black experience out here.

The African-American experience is one of the most important threads in the American tapestry.

The truth of the matter is, I am a black woman, and I am an actor. I don't try to get caught up in being a black actor; I'm just an actor who is a black woman. It's not about forgetting that you're black, but you don't need to be hammered over the head, either; it just is what it is.

I lived in London for a long time, and that's a pretty white town. In Toronto, I just ended up in this circle of indie rock kids who happened to be white, too... Really, it was just when I started getting out there and meeting more people and seeing more fans that I went, 'Oh, actually, I'm not white.'

I was the only black girl at my junior high school. I had an afro, a Jamaican accent, I looked really old.

I am definitely a person of color.

A racial or religious or tribal identity is a kind of fact.

I am a Canadian, a man and a Black man in that order.

African-Americans have a lot to teach the world.

Stories about race and identity pique my interest for obvious reasons. That's in my body, my brain, my history, my memories - it's all part of my toolbox as an actor.

I write the black experience in America, and contained within that experience, because it is a human experience, are all the universalities.

Blackness is not a monolith. We are not homogenous people; we are not all the same.

I've heard people say, 'Why do you have to do a show that's called 'Black Girls Rock'?' or 'Why is there an expression called 'black girl magic'?' You know, when you say, 'Save the dolphins,' you don't mean, 'I don't like whales.' That's just not the way it works!

There is a multitude of experiences that make up the black experience.

What I remember about race relations in the 1990s is that you showed your awareness by saying you didn't see race, that you were colour-blind.

The way black people feel, especially, is if you're going to tell a black story, let it come from a real place.

It really upsets me that the media insists on turning 'Do the Right Thing' or 'Boyz N the Hood' into 'black films.' They are American films. They may open the window on the black experience, but they had things to say to everybody. That's why they were so successful.

I just want to tell black stories.

If you're a black person in America, it's really hard to avoid being black. And what I mean is that the reality of your cultural history, regardless of whether or not you talk about it, it's there.

The black experience isn't exclusively slavery/civil rights/Obama.

Our blackness and how to survive being black in America was something that our parents instilled in us extraordinarily well.

It is my hope that as we commemorate Black History Month in the future, we will continue to celebrate the many achievements and rich culture of African-Americans.

I'm a black American, I am proud of my race. I am proud of who I am. I have a lot of pride and dignity.

In Atlanta, with a large African-American population, Sosa is often considered a black man. In Miami and Los Angeles, with larger Hispanic populations, he is a Latino man, and the black label is rejected as robbing Hispanics of a hero.