Lionel Hampton Quotes

I think that sometimes we put undue pressure on stories featuring people of color, and I hope we get to a point where it's not such a rarity to see a person of color be the hero of a story, so that it can just be a story and not have to carry so much weight.

When I do a picture and it's 90% black, like 'Bird,' I use 90% black people.

I like representing different kinds of black people - showing they exist.

It's people who look like me, just seeing representation of everyone. I didn't get that when I was young. I only saw one black girl that was on a Disney show, that was known for being the sassy, coocoo, that type of girl.

There's a time when it was an event for a black person to be on television. Where black households would gather around, 'Oh, you know, Sammy Davis is going to be on 'All in the Family' tonight! Let's go check it out!' It was a big, big thing.

'Chels-emojis' are in the works. I use emojis heavily in life, and I think a lot of people do. There are a number that are frustratingly absent - you know how there's kind of a generic white man and a generic white woman? I just want to put a generic black man and a generic black woman.

There needs to be more film directors of colour. They bandy about the word 'diversity' a lot, but when I say 'of colour,' I mean Asian, black - I mean people of all colour. We need to have those voices given the opportunity, not told that their films will not be distributed or will not sell well abroad.

We understand 'Roots,' and that experience was mind-boggling, and it changed the way society viewed race relations. It was incredibly important. With 'Roots,' I was just as proud as anybody else that people of color were getting their stories told.

I feel a responsibility to continue creating complex roles for black women, especially young black women.

One motivation for the 'Soul Train' awards was the grumbling that all of us in the industry have heard about the way black music tends to be viewed as a secondary phenomenon by the other awards shows.

Take the time to discover how African-Americans have had a great impact on this country. In science, education, literature, art, and politics.

Naturally we need black men to give this movie serious credibility.

I think what we need, especially in publishing, is more commissioning editors and editors who are people of colour.

The Civil Rights for Musicians Act is about economic justice for African American artists. It's about what's right. And it's about time.

It's not enough even to have one black Barbie... because black women are not a monolith.

In England, you feel like a member of the revolutionary guard the minute you even mention race. But I do think that the OscarsSoWhite phenomenon will have to reflect back on England. What people are essentially saying is that they want to see more diverse stories. It's not about putting three black people in the back of the shot.

I have lots of hopes for black actors in general, whether they be on TV or on stage or in movies, and that is that we move beyond the tokenism of what it means to be black in a particular set of circumstances.

When I first started in Formula 1, I tried to ignore the fact I was the first black guy ever to race in the sport. But, as I've got older, I've really started to appreciate the implications.

I believe in 'Black' as much as I believe in 'Bajirao Mastani.'

'The Cosby Show' was a show about black people that was fundamentally and unequivocally friendly to whiteness and to white people. The Huxtables had white friends.

I came up with Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Those guys, they took me under their wing at an early age.

There is a very diverse range of superheroes, especially with the Firestorm character. In the comics, there is a black Firestorm. But we still don't see that many black superheroes. So what The CW is doing and what DC Comics is doing with this whole universe with diversity is absolutely amazing.

With my representation of a black woman in the world today, there's such a powerful response from my community about what it means to have black representation on television. That response is so overwhelming and so strong that I just have to express my own gratitude for it, because I understand the necessity for it.

I grew up figure skating, and in figure skating there is only a handful of black people at the time figure skating with me.

Being a black woman in America and the world and in corporate situations is something to be celebrated.