Chris Ofili Quotes

Experience tells us that people are not born with the innate ability nor the wish to see the Other as an equal individual in society. Pride in one’s separate identity can be so strong that it obscures the intrinsic value of other identities. Pluralism is a value that must be taught.

I have a big problem with cis straight men. I'm sort of discriminatory against them and it's going to take work for me to find a way to build a relationship with those people and trust that those people can be allies.

I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form.

No one is born hating others.

I have never been racist.

People aren't born racist.

Nobody wants to be racist and I think that most people aren't.

Parents and schools should place great emphasis on the idea that it is all right to be different. Racism and all the other 'isms' grow from primitive tribalism, the instinctive hostility against those of another tribe, race, religion, nationality, class or whatever. You are a lucky child if your parents taught you to accept diversity.

Don't let anyone keep you down for silly reasons such as who you are.

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

Why do we let blind people and people in wheelchairs become citizens? I feel sorry for cripples, but that doesn't mean I want them in my country.

We've got to start making people uncomfortable in themselves and not being comfortable being racist or homophobic or any of that. We've got to cut that out from the inside.

For me, I don't have to defend myself that I am not a racist. I won't go in that discussion.

There's a lot of racism around. I am always puzzled when people have that attitude. I went to a place where people were nice to me. It was something that stuck with me. I learned to treat people the same.

If you're good at what you do, it's going to quiet the people that think you're not good because of how you look or what sex you are.

When employees can bring their full selves to work, we get the full benefit of all their perspectives and experiences.

Nobody - regardless of how they feel or behave - deserves to be on the other end of receiving hatred and discrimination.

People will always look different from each other in ways we can't control. What we can control is what we allow ourselves to make of those differences.

Don't assume that all fat people are gluttons. And don't use the word 'fat.' There is a principle here. Learn from logic and experience not to associate things - especially in preaching - that don't necessarily go together.

There's nothing I love more in life than turning around a bigot.

I would never belong to any club that excluded anybody for race.

I think what's important is to give space to the range of human experience.

Unfortunately, the people of Louisiana are not racists.

If we treasure our own experience and regard it as real, we must also treasure other people's experience. Reality is no less precious if it presents itself to someone else. All are discoverers, and if we disenfranchise any, all suffer.

There's nothing wrong with being a cop. There's nothing wrong with being a white person. It's about where your heart is... We've got to get everyone beyond the xenophobic isolationism.