Maya Soetoro-Ng Quotes

In our interconnected world, we must learn to feel enlarged, not threatened, by difference - that is what I have argued.

Discrimination still exists. Some people feel that their own beliefs are being threatened. Some are unhappy about unfamiliar cultures. They all need to be reassured that there is so much to be gained by reaching out to others; that diversity is indeed a strength and not a threat.

Racism has a very quick expiration date when exposed to actual contact with people.

Because we should always respect other nationalities, I have always tried to play them with dignity.

It is through accepting other people in our own countries that we shall come to respect our neighbours and be respected in our turn.

I want our students to be so accustomed to children of other cultures that the words 'diversity' and 'tolerance' won't be in their vocabulary. They won't need them - they'll live it.

For most people, using the Internet broadens their sense of who 'we' is and actually ends up leaving us in a place of greater compassion and understanding. It leaves us more connected to a larger group of people and more at one with a lot more people in our community.

If you aren't just brought up in your tribe but interact with other people either directly or vicariously, through journalism and literature, you see what life is like from other points of view and are less likely to demonize them or dehumanize others and more likely to empathize with them.

Contrary to what the politicians and religious leaders would like us to believe, the world won't be made safer by creating barriers between people.

It's a tragedy, in a way, that Americans are brought up to think that they cannot feel for other people and other beings just because they are different. They think they're different. It's very limiting.

I am certainly not racist; I even like the British.

We need to put into practice the idea of embracing other cultures. We need to be shaping the kind of world we want to live in instead of waiting for someone else or some other entities to do it for us.

I've always thought that a lot of the problems in the world would be solved if a spaceship did arrive, then anyone with one head and two arms and two legs would be your brother! It wouldn't matter where they were from or what they believed or anything. It might be good for us.

Somebody had to shock the world and let people know how great we could be if we only put our biases aside.

I'm not anti-Muslim; I'm not anti-immigration.

London is a liberal city, in all senses of the word. It is a city built on the idea that the multitude of cultures that inhabit it are a benefit, not a curse, where communities from all over the globe live and work side by side, enriching each other's experiences.

My company, East West, was founded on the premise that people need to group together and not be xenophobic, parochial, or provincial.

We need to educate young people, give them the possibility to understand that the diversity is positive, to feel and experience it, so that they can then join forces in promoting more diverse world.

I have no problem being with people of different nationalities.

We are all trying to make it the best way we know how, so when we look at each other as individuals and nations, we should do so with compassion.

Our minds do understand that people of all races find genuine love in many places. We dig that the world is full of amazing options.

Being the only non-Black was a unique experience. After a few weeks, you're not aware of skin color differences. You see the color; you're not blind, but it doesn't matter. You see the human being first.

What I loved the most about Oakland was that all of my neighbors came in as many colors, ideas, and religions as there are people on the planet. How lucky I was to know so many people that were so different and yet so much alike!

I remember while I was at school some of my Muslim friends talked about a handful of people spoiling things in every culture. Hatred or hurt or pain isn't specific to a religion. I think it's a matter of acceptance. The one thing the world has to accept is everybody is different. What is normal to us is different and unusual to somebody else.

I have some wonderful friends from the Mideast that are as red, white and blue as anybody you know, that have been harassed, and I think it's a terrible, terrible thing.