Tionne Watkins Quotes

I've played 100 caps for England, for my country. Being the first black player, I think, is amazing.

It would be a huge honour for me to wear the armband for Germany as the first black captain ever.

If you think about it, I made history. Not only was I the first black British woman to be nominated for an Oscar, I was the first black British person.

What people forget is that the most radical thing about Obama is that he was the first black man in history to imagine that he could become president, who was able to make other Americans believe it as well. Other than that, he is a centrist, just like I try to be. He's been bridging divisions his whole life.

I had great admiration for the election of President Obama. I believe that the U.S. at that moment showed tremendous capacity to show that it is a great nation, and it surprised the world. It may be very difficult to be able to elect a black president in the U.S. - as it was very difficult to elect a woman president in Brazil.

I think it is so great right now that we are in an age where there's an African American president in office. I think it is important for our generation to really witness that.

When I first heard that Barack Obama was going to be the first black president, I wanted to do the smallest, biggest tribute in history.

I'd never been around or seen a black showrunner, and in some ways you wish that it wasn't a big deal.

I've not just played for England. I've done it for all the black players out there - to prove that they can do it.

There still aren't many black women on prime-time TV. Times are changing, but it's interesting: we're in 2013 and still experiencing firsts... Hopefully, in the next 100 years, things will balance even more.

Shows like 'Empire,' 'Black-ish,' 'Scandal,' and 'How to Get Away With Murder' are expanding viewers' perspectives on what people of color can be like. They're showing more range. They're showing more diversity within diversity.

The concept of 'diversity' was this big moral 'should.' And now with the success of shows like 'Fresh Off the Boat,' 'Empire,' 'Blackish,' and 'Jane the Virgin,' it's become this big business 'must,' which is so great.

There seem to be a lot of black artists making very good videos that I'm surprised aren't being used on MTV.

Spike Lee really gave us a platform, men and women of color.

The 3,000th episode is a great milestone for 'Hollyoaks,' so it was just really nice and a big honour to play a part in it.

Floyd Thompson, a white man, desegregated NASA. Period.

We promote Asian storytelling - not just Asian stories but Asian people in stories with the full spectrum of the human experience. When you say, 'Oh, it's not enough attention on Asians. It's more black and white,' that game becomes like you're playing the discrimination Olympics.

I think it's really cool that someone could have ovaries and the presidency. Growing up, I thought I could never be president because I was black and female. Now I know that's wrong. Within my own lifetime - that's different. Within my lifetime, interracial couples are more common. Within my own lifetime, biracial folks are able to claim that.

I wish that all different types of people of all races and all upbringings were all equally represented in this industry that influences so many people.

In sci-fi, the Black guys always die. So, it's extremely important to bring African-American characters to the genre and not have them killed.

President Obama became our first African American president, and for me, it is the stuff of which dreams are made.

For me to be the first African-born WWE Champion is incredible because now, people who look like myself can look at TV and see on WWE television that anything is possible because I'm doing it.

The next Bond ought to be a woman or, at least, a black actor.

I feel that its important for me to be out there and to represent the face. At the same time, for me as an individual, I think the Asian-American face can be crowded with the American identity.

Going back about 10 years ago, the only thing a black kid could do to get out of the ghetto was being a sports star. Now we can add music to that, which is a good achievement in itself.