Sade Adu Quotes

I come from an immigrant family, but I know no other nationality apart from British.

When I was at school, you had to choose; there was a lot of pressure to assimilate. You were an Aussie, or you were one of 'the wogs' - which was everybody else. But I didn't want to be in either group, so I felt like an odd one out.

You're either ghetto or you're not.

Integration would lead to miscegenation, which will destroy our white race eventually.

Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization

People who allow others not of their race to live among them will perish, because the inevitable result of a racial integration is racial inter-breeding which destroys the characteristics and existence of a race

Every race is totally different.

'WASP' is the only ethnic term that is in fact a term of class, apart from redneck, which is another word for the same group but who are in the lower social strata, so it's inexplicably tied up with social standing and culture and history in a way that the other hyphenations just are not.

I feel Anglo-American.

I always felt slightly grubbier than most American people.

I always identified myself as non-Swedish. I was never discriminated against, because I looked Swedish and speak without an accent. But I had an outsider's perspective.

There's a big difference between race and culture. Because racially, I'm an Indian man. Culturally, not at all.

I'm reluctant to use the word class so much.

Immigrants want to change our values and our way of life.

Efforts to concentrate immigrants in social groups and to retard their Americanization should be steadily frowned down.

Assimilation was never the goal of the diverse ethnic groups in America. Inclusion without discomfort is now, and ever will be, the goal.

There are no human beings whose sense of social identity is fully and exclusively given for themselves by the membership of the working (or any other) class

Countries like France, Italy and the Netherlands may pay lip service to inclusion, but the ethos in those places is that immigrants can never really become French, Italian or Dutch, no matter what their passports say. The emphasis is on tolerance and respect, but there’s no real expectation that foreign nationals fit in.

People assume that I'm an aristocrat, but I don't really feel part of any class.

I was twice-born. I'm Mexican by nature and Hungarian by nurture.

I can look Punjabi, South Indian, gareeb and ameer too.

Growing up as Chinese-American, as someone who experienced racism, questions of 'otherness' are always at the forefront of my mind.

I just grew up in the States, so I feel like I identify more with the American culture.

My parents were decent, aspirant first-generation middle class. They read 'Reader's Digest', listened to classical music; my grandparents had a bust of Stalin on the mantelpiece. The kids of that generation were terrified of being below par, class-wise.

There was a stage when I was a little embarrassed about my Asian upbringing.