“Once in a while, God sends a good white person my way, even to this day. I think it's God's way of keeping me from becoming too mean. And when he sends a nice one to me, then I have to eat crow. And honey, crow is a tough old bird to eat, let me tell you.” ThinkingWayMeanPersonsWhiteNiceBecomingBirdToughLet MeRelationMy WayThis DayHoneyRace RelationsCrow Book:Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years Source: Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
“I can't really hear the audience applause when I'm on stage. I'm totally immersed in the piece. But sometimes I get a lot of it and wonder, "Now, why did they applaud here?" If it's a white crowd, they usually applaud because they think it's a pretty movement. If it's a black crowd, it's usually because they identify with the message.” IfsThinkingI CanSometimesBlackWhiteWonderAudiencePiecesStageMovementMessagesDanceCrowdsApplause Author:Judith Jamison
“I think the American public has gone from really almost white-hot anger in 2010 to an anxiety knowing their government needs to work.” ThinkingNeedsGovernmentWhiteGoneKnowingAnxietyHot Author:Steny Hoyer
“Tonight the Republican presidential candidates had a big debate, 10 candidates. The last time that many rich white guys got together, I think Exxon merged with Mobil.” ThinkingBigsTogetherLastsGuyWhiteRichRepublicanDebatePresidentialCandidatesTonightLast TimePresidential CandidateWhite Guys Author:Jay Leno
“I'm proud to be white. I don't have anything against my color. But I don't think color matters, either. Just like I feel it doesn't matter that I'm a white dude doin' black music.” ThinkingFeelsMatterBlackWhiteColorProudBlack Music Author:Mark Wahlberg
“I hate to get on the racial thing because that's something I've always been totally against. But the problem with the media is that they think that the word rock means white and the word rap means black.” ThinkingMeanProblemHateBlackWhiteRocksMediaI HateRap Author:Ice T
“The beauty of being black in American society is that black has always been an inclusive definition. White has always been an exclusive definition. I think one of the challenges for white people is to figure out how to have a more inclusive picture of who their families are, of who they are.” PeopleThinkingBlackChallengesWhiteFiguresDefinitionsExclusiveAmerican Society Author:Benjamin Jealous
“Growing up as a black kid with a white father who loves you, who affirms you, who was part of your life is fundamentally different than what black people in my family were subjected to in the 19th century or the 18th century. But unfortunately, it doesn't change the old racial order. I think we need to let the old racial order just stay where it is and not seek to improve upon it. Not try to create more racial categories, because all that does is it makes a race stick around longer.” PeopleThinkingNeedsTryingDoeDifferentKidsLife IsOrderFatherBlackWhiteRaceGrowing UpGrowingCenturyLove YouMy FamilySticksCategoriesBlack People19th Century18th Century Author:Benjamin Jealous
“I think one of the things I always loved about the comics was this idea that this character, when he goes berserk, that white, blind rage makes him incredibly powerful, but it's also a great flaw. It's almost like he loses consciousness of what he's doing. During that he can do great damage.” ThinkingIdeasCharacterCan DoLosesWhitePowerfulConsciousnessBlindRageDamageFlawsBerserkBlind Rage Author:Hugh Jackman
“I think if the White House or the President want to say anything about our conversations or anything I tried to do to help our country with their support or at their request, then I think they should be the ones to do that. But I think that former presidents should do that.” IfsThinkingWantShouldCountryHelpingHousePresidentWhiteSupportConversationOur CountryFormerWhite HouseSay AnythingRequest Author:William J. Clinton
“I think the Republicans and conservatives generally were alienated by America's unsuccessful effort in Vietnam, and a lot of them, as Henry Kissinger admitted the other day, never got over President Nixon's impeachment, and didn't think, even though there was a pattern of illegal conduct there, sanctioned by the White House and proved by the tapes and other documentary evidence and testimony, they didn't believe that the impeachment was justified, and they didn't think he should have resigned.” ThinkingShouldBelieveAmericaHousePresidentWhiteEffortRepublicanEvidenceShould HavePatternsIllegalWhite HouseVietnamTapeDocumentariesTestimonyJustifiedUnsuccessfulResignedImpeachmentKissingerHenry KissingerPresident Nixon Author:William J. Clinton
“Black and white is much closer to the condition of dreaming. It links you to the subconscious and I think that was part of the great appeal of movies originally.. this strange otherness.” ThinkingDreamBlackWhiteConditionsStrangeAppealsLinksBlack And WhiteSubconsciousOtherness Author:John Boorman
“A new poll says that if the election were held today, both John Kerry and John Edwards would beat President Bush by double digit margins. The White House is so worried about this, they're now thinking of moving up the capture of Osama Bin Laden to next month.” IfsThinkingTodayMovingNextHousePresidentWhiteMonthsBeatsElectionWorriedWhite HouseCapturePollsPresident BushMarginsBin LadenOsama Bin LadenJohn KerryMoving Up Author:Jay Leno
“President Bush is now focusing on jobs. I think the one job he's focusing most on is his own. The White House is now backtracking from its prediction that 2.6 million new jobs will be created in the U.S. this year. They say they were off by roughly 2.6 million jobs.” ThinkingYearsJobsHousePresidentWhiteMillionsWhite HousePredictionsPresident BushNew JobBacktracking Author:Jay Leno
“The White House has finally found one guy that kinda remembers serving with President Bush in the National Guard. Now they just need to find someone who remembers Bush working on an economic plan. ... I think the White House spent more money looking for this guy than finding weapons of mass destruction.” ThinkingNeedsRememberGuyFoundHousePresidentWhitePlansEconomicFindingsWeaponsMassDestructionServingWhite HouseMore MoneyThis GuyPresident BushWeapons Of Mass DestructionMass DestructionNational Guard Author:Jay Leno
“In my later years I have sought to become simpler, straighter and purer in my handling of the language. I've had many writing heroes, writers who have influenced me. Of the ones still alive, I can think of E.B. White. I certainly admire the pure, crystal stream of his prose. When I was very young as a sportswriter I knowingly and unashamedly imitated others. I had a series of heroes who would delight me for a while and I'd imitate them--Damon Runyon, Westbrook Pegler, Joe Williams.” ThinkingWritingYearsStillsI CanYoungLanguageSportsWhiteAliveHeroPureSeriesDelightAdmireStreamsProseCrystalsDamon Author:Red Smith
“I don't think Dr. King helped racial harmony, I think he helped racial justice. What I profess to do is help the oppressed and if I cause a load of discomfort in the white community and the black community, that in my opinion means I'm being effective, because I'm not trying to make them comfortable. The job of an activist is to make people tense and cause social change.” PeopleIfsThinkingTryingMeanHelpingJobsSocialCausesBlackCommunityJusticeWhiteOpinionKingsComfortableHarmonyActivistLoadOppressedDrsSocial ChangeDiscomfortTenseBlack CommunityRacial Justice Author:Al Sharpton
“I believe that there are human stocks with whom it is physically unwise to intermarry, but to think that these stocks are all colored or that there are no such white stocks is unscientific and false.” ThinkingBelieveHumansI BelieveWhiteUnwise Author:W. E. B. Du Bois
“I maintain that any writer of a book is fully authorised in attaching any meaning he likes to a word or phrase he intends to use. If I find an author saying, at the beginning of his book, "Let it be understood that by the word 'black' I shall always mean 'white,' and by the word 'white' I shall always mean 'black,'" I meekly accept his ruling, however injudicious I think it.” IfsThinkingMeanBookUseBlackWhiteAcceptingUnderstoodLikesPhrasesRuling Book:Symbolic Logic: Elementary Source: Symbolic Logic: Elementary
“Black women . . . work because their husbands can't make enough money at their jobs to keep everything going. . . . They don't go to work to find fulfillment, or adventure, or glamour and romance, like so many white women think they are doing. Black women work out of necessity.” ThinkingEnoughJobsRomanceBlackWhiteAdventureHusbandWork OutFulfillmentBlack WomenGlamour Book:Wilma Source: Wilma
“The vow of silence, that's the mind-blower. See, talking is what I do... i t's a real need with me, a craving, I'm like a word junkie. I never shut up. I talk to myself, I talk in my sleep. The idea of voluntarily turning off that tap, I can't imagine it It'd be like, I don't know, all the rivers in the world just slammed to a stop. No churning, no flowing, no white water, just stillness, crushing stillness. I don't think I could stand it, locked up like that in my own psyche. I'd collapse into myself, I'd implode” ThinkingKnowsWorldNeedsMindI CanIdeasRealWaterMy OwnSleepWhiteSilenceTalkingImagineRiversCrushStillnessLockedCollapseShut UpCravingVowJunkieLocked UpChurningWhite WaterVow Of Silence Author:Andrew Schneider
“We ask ourselves all kinds of questions, such as why does a peacock have such beautiful feathers, and we may answer that he needs the feathers to impress a female peacock, but then we ask ourselves, and why is there a peacock? And then we ask, why is there anything living? And then we ask, why is there anything at all? And if you tell some advocate of scientism that the answer is a secret, he will go white hot and write a book. But it is a secret. And the experience of living with the secret and thinking about it is in itself a kind of faith.” IfsThinkingNeedsWritingKindMayDoeBookBeautifulAsksWhiteAnswersSecretFemaleHotAll KindsImpressFeathersScientismPeacock Author:Vaclav Havel
“It's like my having to walk down thousands and thousands of white marble stairs...and nothing but a very very blue sky, very blue...and I'd have to walk down them forever. I never thought about going up...Don't you think that must mean something?” ThinkingMeanWhiteWalksForeverSkyBlueStairsMarbleBlue Sky Author:Edie Sedgwick
“Don't cry, you crybaby! When you think things are hard, that's the time you are maturing as a person. If you get over the darkness, a wonderful new day will come. The bright morning will be filled with light and the birds will be singing . There'll be white roses with a lovely fragrance.” IfsThinkingPersonsHardLightWhiteMorningDarknessWonderfulCrySingingBirdFilledRoseLovelyMatureGet OverFragranceNew DayWhite RoseCrybabies Author:Aya Kito
“I'm capable offstage of having some dark, twisted thoughts but the kind of things I like to do onstage are just more conceptual and I don't even think of them as being clean. I don't sit down and think, "Man, I'm going to come up with some lily-white comedy!" They're just things that I like to talk about, and then at the end of the day you think, "Well, I guess that was clean" but it's not the focus.” ThinkingMenWellsKindEndsDarkWhiteComedyFocusCapableDown AndCleanCome UpThe End Of The DayTwistedLiliesDark Twisted Author:Brian Regan
“In your late teens and early twenties, everything is idealism. Everything should just work in black and white. That's good. You need that. I think most revolutions are started by people in their teens and twenties.” PeopleThinkingNeedsShouldBlackWhiteRevolutionLateTwentiesTeensBlack And WhiteIdealism Author:LeCrae
“I'm not really a political-type person, meaning that I don't really make great stands or whatever, but if you ask me a direct question I say it shouldn't matter who you are, whether you're black, white, green, gay, male, female. If you can do a job and do it well you should be paid for it, you should be respected for it, and you have to be responsible. I think sometimes people can go too fare trying to make a point. I think they should just make their point and go on about.” PeopleIfsThinkingShouldTryingWellsPersonsSometimesMatterJobsPoliticalAsksBlackCan DoWhiteTypeGoes OnGayFemaleDirectPaidResponsibleGreenWho You AreMalesAsk MeBeing ResponsibleBlack WhiteMale Female Author:Dolly Parton
“I've always said as a political scientist that "culture" is what we use when we can't explain things. I think it's more about accessibility. Part of the problem is that this is an expensive game [golf]. I know in a couple of places where there are black members, and they come from pretty much the same socioeconomic level that the white members come from.” ThinkingKnowsSaidUseProblemPoliticalCultureGamesBlackWhiteLevelsCoupleMembersScientistGolfExpensiveAccessibility Author:Condoleezza Rice
“Sexism and racism and homophobia and classism are so naturalized. All these stereotypes make people think it's just normal that straight white men are getting all the breaks.” PeopleThinkingMenWhiteBreakNormalRacismSexismStereotypeWhite ManHomophobiaClassism Author:Kathleen Hanna
“As a youngster, I read of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon. As a student, I wrote English reports on science fiction. And as a fighter pilot, I observed the selection of the Mercury astronauts. All this was fascinating, but I really didn't think I would ever be a part of it. It was only when my good friend Ed White was selected as a Gemini astronaut that I decided to join NASA as part of the Apollo program.” ThinkingWhiteFictionStudentsProgramDecidedScience FictionFighterReportsFascinatingPilotsFlashGood FriendSelectionApolloAstronautBucksRogerSelectedNasaYoungstersMercuryFighter PilotBuck RogersFlash Gordon Author:Buzz Aldrin
“I understand the all black or all white look (to be perfectly blunt, it's easy and you don't have to think about it very much) but would any of us really want to be one of those people?” PeopleThinkingWantLooksEasyBlackWhiteBluntAll Black Author:Tim Gunn
“There's no reason in the world why black [people] should not be regarded as an attribute that is not degrading but is positive. There's no reason in the world why any person should think that white is degrading.” PeopleThinkingWorldShouldPersonsReasonBlackWhiteNo ReasonAttributesBlack PeopleDegrading Author:John Hope Franklin
“All you crazy white people "I'm American!", all you did was come out of your mother's pussy on American soil. That's it. That's it! What, you think you're better than somebody from France 'cause you came out of a pussy in Detroit?” PeopleThinkingHumorFunnyMotherCausesWhiteCrazyFranceSoilDetroitPussy Author:Chris Rock
“I think it's such open game to make fun of myself. First of all, as a white rapper you have to have an angle and not try to be ghetto or anything. You can count on one hand the white rappers that have made it.” ThinkingTryingFirstsMadeHandsGamesFunWhiteMade ItRapperAngleGhetto Author:Simon Rex
“I think it's a wonderful thing to have African-American characters. Look at life. It's not a white world or a black world; there are all kind of people in it. It's showing growth, and in today's world there are so many outlets.” PeopleThinkingWorldLooksKindCharacterTodayBlackGrowthWhiteWonderfulAll KindsAfrican AmericanWonderful ThingsOutletsToday's WorldAmerican Character Author:Darius McCrary
“It's not anything that is just perpetuated by White America or just perpetuated by Black America. It's just a cultural understanding that you're just not a part of the equation when it comes to sexuality and I think that people mistake your lack of opportunity with the level of your talent.” PeopleThinkingAmericaOpportunityUnderstandingBlackWhiteLevelsMistakeTalentSexualityEquationsBlack America Author:Viola Davis
“People are too afraid of uptown. A lot of people will tell you, like, "Don't go to Harlem. You can never go there. 'Cause as soon as you get there, they kill you." That's what people think. As soon as you arrive in Harlem, someone just stabs you in the face right away. That's people's image of Harlem: just everyone standing around waiting for lost white people to kill all day. "Did you see any? I didn't either."” PeopleThinkingFunnyFacesLostCausesWaitingWhiteComedyStandingHarlemUptown Author:Louis C. K.
“I think we're entering a new period of filmmaking that's analogous to switching from black-and-white to color, or from silent to sound. The medium is completely flexible, and it's not bound by anything. If you imagine something, you can do it.” IfsThinkingSoundBlackCan DoWhiteImagineColorPeriodsSilentBoundsMediumsFilmmakingBlack And WhiteEnteringYou Can Do ItFlexibleSwitching Author:Jean-Pierre Jeunet
“When you have a young kid you can't go out much at night, so I spent a lot of time at home, watching movies and cooking dinner with my wife. It felt like what most people experience. White picket fence stuff.So there was some enjoyment of that normalcy, but I have to admit that part of me missed the chaos of touring. I think it's about balance.” PeopleThinkingHomeKidsYoungNightFeltStuffWhiteWifeBalanceCookingChaosDinnerMy WifeEnjoymentFenceTouringNormalcyPicket FencesCooking Dinner Author:Dan Mangan
“I think it's important to accept all the ways that we're absurdly lucky. I'm a white male from a safe city in a wealthy country.” ThinkingWayImportantCountryWhiteCitiesAcceptingLuckySafeMalesWealthy Author:Dan Mangan
“I really don't think there's a world in which you can do anything with anybody. Because we're in the world of the White House, I think there are certain things you can do, and larger things that can happen, but I don't think you can do anything.” ThinkingWorldHappensCertainHouseCan DoWhiteWhite House Author:Shonda Rhimes
“When I'm standing in the middle of the salt flats, where you swear that the pupils of your eyes have turned white because of the searing heat that is rising from the desert, I think of my childhood, I think of my mother, my father, my grandparents; I think of the history that we hold there and it is beautiful to me. But it is both a blessing and a burden to be rooted in place. It's recognizing the pattern of things, almost feeling a place before you even see it. In Southern Utah, on the Colorado plateau where canyon walls rise upward like praying hands, that is a holy place to me.” ThinkingFeelingsHandsEyeBeautifulMotherFatherWhiteChildhoodMiddleWallPrayingHolyBlessingStandingPatternsBurdenDesertHeatRisingFlatsSouthernSaltRootedSwearGrandparentRecognizingPupilsCanyonsColoradoUtahHoly PlacesSouthern Utah Author:Terry Tempest Williams
“I think the reason why I'm so alluring to networks is because on the surface I'm like a quintessential relatable, boring white guy. A great many sitcoms have been anchored by a boring white guy, so I feel like what they want to mine from me are my more generic qualities.” ThinkingWantFeelsHas BeensReasonGuyWhiteQualityMinesBoringSurfaceReason WhyGreat MenRelatableSitcomGenericAlluringWhite GuysQuintessential Author:Mike Birbiglia
“I think a case could be made that there's sort of a crisis of masculinity in the West. Particularly with white males.” ThinkingMadeWhiteCasesCrisisWestMalesMasculinity Author:Scott Thompson
“I'm not ideological. I think sometimes when people are ideological, the world's a lot easier. Because it falls into either right or wrong, or black or white, or whatever. To me, I'm still trying to figure out a lot of things.” PeopleThinkingWorldTryingStillsSometimesFallBlackWhiteFiguresEasierIdeologicalBlack Or White Author:John O. Brennan
“I think white people like to tell Asian people how they should feel about race because they're too scared to tell black people.” PeopleThinkingFeelsShouldBlackWhiteRaceScaredBlack PeopleAsian Author:Margaret Cho
“I do believe that when we're in the process of dying, that all these emergency circuits in the brain take over. I base what I'm saying not on any empirical evidence. I think it's very possible that when you're dying, these circuits open up, which would explain this whole white-light phenomena - when people clinically die and they see their relatives and stuff and say, "Hello, it's great to see you."” PeopleThinkingBelieveWholeLightDiesStuffProcessWhiteBrainDyingEvidenceHelloEmergenciesCircuitsWhite LightEmpirical Evidence Author:Stephen King
“I had to battle it out with all the usual suspects and whatnot and go to the callback. I was lucky that (writer-director) John (Levine) and I were sort of these two white-boy hip-hop-heads from New York. I think that alone got me in the door.” ThinkingTwoWhiteBoysDoorsNew YorkBattleLuckyDirectorsHip HopHipsHopsSuspectsUsualCallbacks Author:Josh Peck
“I don't think it's very difficult to bring a virginal, angst-ridden, hip-hop grunting white boy to the screen. Not that I have any experience with that. I don't know man. I understood where his head was at, because he was this 18-year-old cat that thought he was a man, but didn't really know what it meant to be a man.” ThinkingKnowsMenYearsDifficultWhiteBoysUnderstoodCatHip HopScreensHipsHopsMeant To BeBe A ManAngst Author:Josh Peck
“I think there were moments on Snow White where I wished there was a little bit more of a sick humor toward Ravenna. But maybe the tone of the movie couldn't really support that. So you always have to kind of figure out where you are and adapt to it.” ThinkingKindLittlesMomentsBitsWhiteSupportFiguresLittle BitSickSnowToneWhere You AreSnow White Author:Kristen Stewart