Ashton Sanders Quotes

My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.

In creating my YouTube videos, I don't want to speak for my audience and the people I represent; I want to amplify their voices.

I think the crux of this urgent and real conversation about representation and diversity in art-making and storytelling both behind and in front of the camera ultimately has to do with simply seeing more human perspectives.

I'm so happy that we're finally hearing the stories and voices of women who make America. We do what we see, not what we're told, so an incomplete story of this country damages everyone.

In the long run, we will need many more African-American, Latino, and Native American leaders, and leaders from low-income communities, who can bring additional insight and a deeply grounded sense of urgency, and who are the most likely to inspire the necessary trust and engagement among students' parents and community leaders.

This is an important appointment to a community that has often felt excluded from the decision making process.

We know there needs to be diversity in storytellers telling their own stories. I think there's a beautiful forward movement in that direction with McQueen telling '12 Years A Slave,' with Coogler telling 'Fruitvale,' and with Daniels telling 'The Butler.'

I am doing what I can to expand the tent and bring up other people and make sure we are telling different kinds of stories.

The only thing that's serious to me about music is making sure marginalized people are included in the story.

I can't imagine how hard it must be to invest in a community... when you don't feel heard and when you don't feel seen.

The reason I got into filmmaking was super naive: to change the world, you know? To really make the voices that we don't get to hear heard and the images and the stories that we don't get to see seen. I would like to normalize that.

It's interesting because diversity doesn't just happen by garnishing your omelet with a little bit of parsley. Diversity happens because the people that are telling the stories - the writers, directors, storytellers - want to tell their story.

I'm a believer that we should support various forms of representation because they clearly resonate with unheard groups of people, and for such a huge project like 'Riverdale,' this kind of representation is fundamentally important.

I think it's important for not just me but women of color, trans women, and people who are marginalized to be telling stories of themselves. It's important for us to be behind the lens.

I'm getting to use my platform as the Bachelorette - on my season - to really make change through my experience.

ADCOLOR is an incredible organization that not only empowers people from all backgrounds to rise up but also to give back.

Instead of going to a GLAAD event and standing on a soapbox, I am writing roles that I feel will change the narrative and open doors.

From what I see, people of color are being called on in a different way. We're being heard in a different way - louder. And I think it's such an exciting time. The power structure is being redefined, and we're redefining beauty with the stories that we're telling and the women we're showing on our covers.

Telling diverse stories is at the heart of our culture.

I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.' I think I'd like them to remember me by saying, 'She opened government to everyone.'

When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power.

I don't know what issues concerning identity have helped contemporary fiction evolve to what it is now. All I know is that the range of voices that are being heard and published is a lot more diverse than when I was coming up.

I want to make films that make a difference. I want to be out and hope that that will make things better for gay people and for myself. I hope one day I can start to make the kind of projects or be involved with kind of projects that can really make a difference.

I believe that everyone has a story, and it is important that we encourage all students to tell theirs.

Audiences want great story telling; it's why white people watch my show 'Black in America.' It's why black people watch 'Latina in America.' All of that is statistically shown and proven but it was because it was good story telling about people who were outsiders.