“We know what happens to little black boys that have no dads; we've heard that, we get it. But no one is really saying that young women who are born without fathers have real serious issues especially when their mother had no father and the mother has issues.” KnowsLittlesRealHappensYoungMotherFatherBlackBornBoysIssuesHeardSeriousDadYoung WomenSerious IssuesBlack Boy Author:Karrine Steffans
“It's the same old story. Nothing in this world happens unless white folks says it happens. And therein lies the problem of being a professional black storyteller - writer, musician, filmmaker.” WorldStoriesProblemHappensLyingBlackWhiteThis WorldMusicianFolksFilmmakerStoryteller Author:James McBride
“I think if you are a black person or an Hispanic person, you are not as fond of Rudolph Giuliani as you are if you happen to be a white person. Because he has trampled on people's civil rights.” PeopleIfsThinkingPersonsHappensBlackWhiteRightsCivil RightsHispanicBlack PersonRudolph Author:Lynn Samuels
“Environmentalism is not an upper-income issue, it's not a white issue, it's not a black issue, it's not a South or a North or an East or a West issue. It's an issue that all of us have a stake in. And if I can do anything to make sure that not just my daughter but every child in America has green pastures to run in and clean air to breathe and clean water to swim in, then that is something I'm going to work my hardest to make happen.” IfsChildrenI CanHappensRunningAmericaBlackWaterCan DoWhiteIssuesAirDaughterGreenCleanWestSouthEnvironmentalBreatheEastIncomeHardestMy DaughterSwimStakesGoing To WorkEnvironmentalismPasturesClean WaterClean AirGreen Pastures Author:Barack Obama
“That we suffer so much today under whatsoever flag we live is proof positive that constitutions and laws, when framed by the early advocates of human liberty, never included and were never intended for us as a people. It is only a question of sheer accident that we happen to be fellow citizens today with the descendants of those who, through their advocacy, laid the foundation for human rights.” PeopleHumansHappensTodayLawSufferingBlackLibertyRightsCitizensConstitutionFellowsFoundationInjusticeHuman RightsAccidentsProofFlagsSheerDescendantsAdvocacyFramed Book:Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey Source: Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey
“When you talk to people who have been in combat, there's a sensory overload that happens. The color becomes vivid. Sounds become more pronounced. People talk about how, for them, the war was technicolor and real life was black and white after the war.” PeopleHas BeensWarRealHappensSoundBlackWhiteColorReal LifeCombatBlack And WhiteVividSensoryOverload Author:David Ayer
“As a Black woman filmmaker I feel that’s my job: visibility. And my preference within that job is Black subjectivity. Meaning I’m interested in the lives of Black folk as the subject. Not the predicate, not the tangent.[These stories] deserve to be told. Not as sociology, not as spectacle, not as a singular event that happens every so often, but regularly and purposefully as truth and as art on an ongoing basis, as do the stories of all the women you love.” FeelsArtStoriesHappensJobsBlackSubjectsEventsDeserveBasesFolksFilmmakerBlack WomenSociologyPreferenceOngoingSubjectivityVisibility Author:Ava DuVernay
“Black people loving and losing is something we don’t see enough of. We’re always in these heightened situations like something big is happening, something funny or something violent. And you know what? Sometimes we die of breast cancer or a broken heart. Things happen that are just not being explored cinematically. It’s time we reinvigorated that type of film.” PeopleKnowsHeartSometimesEnoughBigsHappensFilmDiesBlackSituationBrokenTypeLosingHappeningsCancerThings HappenViolentBreastsBlack PeopleLike SomethingBreast Cancer Author:Ava DuVernay
“KFC is not black owned, but it sure knows to market heavily to African Americans - obviously hoping we won-t care about what they do the underdog, or in this case, the underchicken - So, if KFC wants to take our money and use it to pay for sloppy practices that hurt animals?I say we send them a message that this is not going to happen. I-m calling on people to boycott KFC until they adopt animal welfare systems recommended by PETA and until they stop the worst abuses of the birds they raise for their restaurants.” PeopleIfsKnowsWantUseHappensCareBlackHurtAnimalPayPracticeCasesWorstCallingMessagesBirdAbuseRaisesAfrican AmericanWelfareRestaurantsUnderdogAnimal WelfareSloppyBoycottPetaKfc Author:Bill Vaughan
“I'm not interested in edges. I'm interested in the mass and color, the black and white. The edges happen because the forms get as quiet as they can be. I want the masses to perform. When I work with forms and colors, I get the edge.” WantHappensFormBlackWhiteColorQuietMassEdgesBlack And WhiteNot Interested Author:Ellsworth Kelly
“I don't see myself a Great Black Hope. I'm just a golfer who happens to be black and Asian. It doesn't matter whether they're white, black, brown or green.” MatterHappensBlackWhiteGreenBrownAsianGolfers Author:Tiger Woods
“Any Black person in amerika [sic], if they are being honest with themselves, have got to come to the conclusion that they don't know what it feels like to be free. We aren't free politically, economically, or socially. We have very little power over what happens in our lives. In fact, a Black person isn't free to walk down the street. Walk down the wrong street, in the wrong neighborhood at night, and you know what happens.” IfsKnowsFeelsLittlesPersonsFactsHappensNightBlackWalksOur LivesStreetsHonestConclusionBeing HonestNeighborhoodBlack Person Author:Assata Shakur
“I wanted to touch on how we look on each other. Good hair, light skin, you must be smart; if you're black, you're dark-skinned, you're ugly. That really happens. This is something that started with slavery, when they divided the house, and it's still a part of today's society and things that we battle with.” IfsLooksStillsLightHappensTodayWantedHouseBlackDarkHairBattleSmartSkinsSlaveryUglyDividedBeing SmartDark SkinnedGood HairToday's Society Author:Rapsody
“We love a world in which the people in the white hats get rewarded and the people in the black hats pay the price. And that I have to say doesn't happen very often, particularly in a very complex economy. We're in a time of panic where people have lost trust in what the banks are doing, what the investment firms are doing - lost trust beyond a level of reasonableness, to be honest. And, it's got to be stopped.” PeopleWorldHappensLostBlackWhiteLevelsPayEconomyHonestInvestmentComplexesBeing HonestFirmHatsPanicPay The PriceReasonablenessBlack HatsLost Trust Author:Rebecca M. Blank
“There are dozens of ways of failing to make money. It is one thing to fail to make money because your single talent happens to be a flair amounting to genius for translating the plays of Aristophanes. It is quite another thing to fail to make money because you are black, or a child, or a woman.” WayChildrenPlayHappensBlackFailingOne ThingTalentGeniusDiscriminationMaking MoneyDozenTranslateFlair Book:The Folks at Home Source: The Folks at Home
“Why is it that if you happen to be black and over six feet tall, everybody thinks you supposed to play basketball or football?” IfsThinkingPlayHappensBlackFeetFootballBasketballSixTall Book:Disappearing Acts Source: Disappearing Acts
“You have to assess every situation that you're in and you have to decide, is this happening because I'm black? Is this happening because I'm a woman? Or is this happening because this is how it happens?” HappensBlackSituationRacismHappenings Author:Charlayne Hunter-Gault
“I like science fiction and physics, things like that. Planets being sucked into black holes, and the various vortexes that create possibility, and what happens on the other side of the black hole. To me it's the microcosmic study of the macrocosmic universe in man, and that's why I'm attracted to it.” MenHappensUniverseSidesBlackFictionStudyPossibilityPlanetsScience FictionVariousPhysicsHolesBlack HoleVortex Author:Wesley Snipes