Jimmy O. Yang Quotes

Through my fiction, I make mainstream readers see the new Americans as complex human beings, not as just 'The Other.'

In a lot of films, they're showing more complete, developed characters of diverse ethnic backgrounds. The larger concern is to be able to tastefully explore the stereotypes, and still move past them to see the core of people.

I understand the whole constant foreigner stereotype, but for me it's important to portray immigrant characters like Jian-Yang and Danny Meng with humanity.

When depicting Asian people in movies, books, and television or as historical figures, it's more important to humanize them and give them all of the dimensions of humanity, and that includes sexuality. Ascribe the human the full range of human qualities.

If the United States is the melting pot of the world, you need entertainment - you need visuals that represent that.

I think one of the things you have to learn if you're going to create believable characters is never to make generalizations about groups of people.

I think that fiction writers can write about anyone. If you are writing a character, and the only thing they are to you is their otherness, then you haven't written a character.

We're a migrant nation made up of people who've been torn out of other worlds, and you'd think we would have some compassion.

I don't think there's enough breadth to the stories told about African-Americans.

All I wanted with that film was to represent the possibility that there might be normal people who are Muslim or Arab with the same fears, responsibilities, hopes.

I think American audiences are open to people with accents and different nationalities being on the screen.

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.

You cannot collectively, as a society, decide that you are only going to represent one part of a minority. It's like saying you've represented black people on television because you aired an episode of the 'Cosbys.'

The best companies will build culturally diverse leadership teams and workforces with divergent backgrounds, perspectives, and ideas.

I feel like we have so much to add to this book called the American Dream, and I want to add our chapter to it. I want to talk about what it means to be brown American and this concept of what I feel is the New Brown America.

There were so few examples of Asian or Asian-American lead characters on American TV or even in the movies. And the ones that have existed for so long were either stereotypical or offensive in some way, or just not reflective of the lives of people in the community.

There used to be times when you didn't see Indians on television or if you did it was the corner shop guy in 'EastEnders,' but now they're not as stereotypical and we've managed to fit in and blend really well. England does a great job of doing that.

Obviously, the world is yearning for more diversity.

I think when you look at the diversity of the readership, all the different people who love comics, I want comics to reflect the real world, and I think Marvel does a good job of trying to do that, but I don't think there's ever an end point when it comes to creating diversity and creating stories that people can relate to.

This country is filled with remarkable people. One of my best friend's families is from Iran, and they're the most American family of all time. Some of the best people that I've ever met are immigrants.

I had always wanted to do a show of girls of color, a show that showcased diversity.

Diversity is strength. Our cinema and our art forms need to diversify so that it tells all stories, all perspectives.

Seriously, how many times do you see Asian-American characters that have an actual family, feelings? You don't see them love and be sad and have all the human emotions. I think that 'Gilmore Girls' is one of the very, very few where we were offered a chance to explore these characters multidimensionally.

I find, a lot of the time, kids can get stuck on, 'Oh no, he doesn't have blue eyes,' with books. You're kind of like, 'Well, that you're going to get over by the time the movie comes out.'

It's people who look like me, just seeing representation of everyone. I didn't get that when I was young. I only saw one black girl that was on a Disney show, that was known for being the sassy, coocoo, that type of girl.