Bill Duke Quotes

I didn't think it was possible for Asians to be actors.

We're all complaining about diversity in Hollywood, but we've got to address the colorism within the black community of Hollywood first.

I was too Jewish for 'Flashdance.'

In the long run it is more important to us as a nation to show the world that we believe in equality of opportunity, that we realize that any kind of segregation is discrimination whether it comes about because of race, color, or creed, and that we are determined to show the world that we believe in the things we preach.

Hollywood's racist.

No single race has a monopoly on racism.

People are making a lot more noise about representation and diversity. But I think modeling is one of the professions where people can be kind of racist.

I think #OscarsSoWhite is about there not truly being enough people of color represented.

If you exclude a group of people from the boardroom or the leadership ranks of a company, the company is not as good as it could be.

Hollywood is hard on everyone, but it really is harder on women and people of color.

Don’t stereotype, Jenks. HAPA is an equal-opportunity hate group,” I said.

We need every human gift and cannot afford to neglect any gift because of artificial barriers of sex or race or class or national origin.

I've heard that Black people and Black faces don't sell magazines, but one day you're going to beg me to be on there.

I was making big paintings with mythological themes. When I started painting black figures, the white professors were relieved, and the black students were like, 'She's on our side.' These are the kinds of issues that a white male artist just doesn't have to deal with.

No matter what happens, we couldn't let people say Asian-American actors can't act.

I'm against an all-white anything or an all-black anything.

I think a lot of moral debates are not over what is the basis of justice, but who gets a ticket to play in the game.

A week before shooting, they told me, You don't have the part, yet. We're still trying to find a handicapped kid who can act. Either that or we break your legs.

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

I was the first South Asian female to do comedy videos on YouTube. But at the same time, all races face their barriers, and I've learned through YouTube, if it's not race, it will be sexism, if it's not sexism, it will be homophobia. It will always be something, and all voices should be heard.

I remember being in a history lesson and saying to my teacher, 'How come you never talk about black scientists and inventors and pioneers?' And she looked at me and said, 'Because there aren't any.'

Now when I enter a carriage, it almost empties. But there's always one brave enough to stay.

There are so many people, deaf or otherwise abled, who are so talented but overlooked or not given a chance to even get their foot in the door.

Unfortunately, the people of Louisiana are not racists.

It matters whether women sit at the table. No one speaks up for you when you are standing outside with your nose pressed up against the glass. You cannot window-shop for power.