Amandla Stenberg Quotes

I feel like elements of race and identity and ethnicity are sort of missing in all of literature, not just in women's literature.

Look at this face. Is it black enough? I want you to vote for me.

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

It's called 'Dear White People,' but really, it's about these black characters and how they are involved or not involved in a racial scandal in ways that might surprise them and others, right?

I am not going to say that only people of color can write people of color, because that means only white people can write white people, and that's not OK.

I can't compete for roles that require me to be Caucasian or African American, even if those characters really connect with me and intrigue me.

Black women are the touchstone by which all that is human can be measured.

Some black filmmakers will say, "I don't want to be considered a black filmmaker, I'm a filmmaker." I don't think that. I'm a black woman filmmaker.

I think it's so important for all of us to be able to see ourselves represented in the books we read and the movies and TV shows we watch.

Women that look like me [the black ones] need to see more of themselves in social media, in film, in music.

I am a black woman poet and I sound like one.

Personally, especially as a young black woman, I didn't think that Los Angeles was a place for me to start. There's a certain type that they go for or don't.

I feel like the world is dominated by such a small group of human beings. There are so many different kinds of people that aren't represented, that don't have characters who look like them. And that's one of the reasons why I intend on being a director, because I want to actually tell some of these stories. I also think that we place such intense emphasis on award shows when they're not necessarily the best reflection of how good the work is. We need to realize that art and creation are so much bigger than an award or any measure of accomplishment.

Growing up, I was always the only black kid on my team and (sometimes) I'd get questions from my friends when I'd say, 'I want to be in the NHL' and they'd say, 'Well, there are no black people or not very many in the NHL' and as a kid, you'd wonder why. But overall, I didn't really face any racial difficulties. Nothing too bad or too lasting.

I've never bothered about my color.

I think it's important to represent black women and our natural hair. Not wearing a weave is totally beautiful and acceptable.

I know there are a lot of eyes on me now from young girls, and it makes me so proud. The only Black woman examples aren't Rihanna and Beyoncé. It makes me proud that I am a classical ballerina and they can look at me and see another way to succeed. That is setting a new standard.

We have African-Americans and black people getting behind the scenes more and more, we get true black images in television and film...because we have black people behind them. They can tell stories from those points of view and bring to life those characters who have yet to be shown. As long as we have people behind the camera just as much as in front of the camera doing the work, then we'll always be good.

I get to represent a lot of different types of women because of my ability to transform into these different people.

What I want to do is create great content on television and movies. It is not my role to program only for Latinos, and you can't really assume that Hispanics only want Hispanic content. But I do think that we are severely underrepresented in television and film. And instead of complaining about not seeing ourselves, we should become film producers, directors, and writers, and tell our story.

No matter how cutting-edge Hollywood may seem, it is still delayed in how it views people: If producers do not perceive me as an Iranian girl, then I cannot play an Iranian girl. If you aren't perceived as a full black girl, then it makes it more difficult to play a black girl on TV.

People are gonna look up to me because I'm young, black, and female.

It's time for people to see us, people of colour, for what we really are: complicated.

Nobody understood what it was like to be black and Jewish... being different from everyone else just made me a lot stronger.

Whiteness is not the default in my fiction.