Tim Scott Quotes

I was the only Black person on the set. It was unusual for me to be in a circumstance in which every move I made was tantamount to representation of 18 million people.

In Atlanta, with a large African-American population, Sosa is often considered a black man. In Miami and Los Angeles, with larger Hispanic populations, he is a Latino man, and the black label is rejected as robbing Hispanics of a hero.

Certainly, living in the U.S., as I have for over two decades, you see how Asians are portrayed in the media... I didn't see myself represented, you know, when I used to look at ads on TV.

I just think, you know, when we talk about a politician, I think a person has to be themselves. Let the voters see the real you.

I have invested the best part of my adult political life in helping to try to build up this movement and I am far from perfect but I do think I am able, through the media, to deliver a good, simple, understandable message.

I was never looking to be popular. The trade-off for me in seeking other people's opinions is the potential to help that you get in the media. And we don't always do that, but when we do, it's a beautiful thing.

You can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate.

If you are going to call a film a 'black film' then you have to make a film that represents everyone that's black, which is almost impossible. That is why white films are not called white films, they are just called 'films.'

After I left the White House, I kept a foothold in the business of American politics; as a talk-show host, analyst, commentator, speechmaker, and occasional writer. I was no longer a practitioner, but I was still a partisan, a Democrat, a blue-stater through and through.

A politician wants to come off as a happy warrior. To be contemplative seems almost effete, fancy – dispiriting somehow to much of your audience. He [Barack Obama] is not afraid to be this way at all.

Early on, I played a Chinese delivery person, and even that, which was very innocuous, felt like I was somehow betraying myself. I felt very self-conscious on set doing that role, with a crew that was almost entirely white.

Some days, I do feel that pressure of, 'What do I mean as a black woman? What am I representing?' It honestly just gives me anxiety.

I'm the same Nina Turner, whether I'm on MSNBC or talking to my hometown newspaper or CNN.

I'm not a token black guy.

I'm conscious of my race and ethnicity in the legislature - it's hard not to be.

I'm definitely drawn to stories about outsiders. Feeling like that myself as a gay black man, I often seek to give a voice to those in the world who don't have one.

There's so much talk of representation in politics and entertainment - it's everywhere - but I didn't realize representation was important until really my senior year of high school.

I am very diplomatic when I'm in front of the media or when I am going out for promotions and stuff. But, usually, I'm a very straight forward person.

There's this responsibility you feel to present a certain thing that kind of respectability politics. I think that became the only accepted way of defining black culture. I started to become too aware of 'How does this look?' instead of 'Who are these characters?'

I've always been a believer that if you're not interested in talking to the media, you shouldn't be running for Senate in the first place, or you're kind of missing out on one of the key components is to get your message out of what you want to do.

I think, I want to see a Republican Party that has more folks that, that look and sound and operate like I do.

I don't wanna marginalize myself. I don't wanna be the overly woke rapper, and I don't wanna be the turned-up rapper.

I'm not those kind of persons that's afraid to be on radio or TV, you know? I'm always the same.

I don't want to be a spokesperson.

The revolution is that we can be anything. We don't have to be one thing or the other. The idea that it is my responsibility to represent only good black people... I mean, what are you talking about? That's not a character - that's a polemic.