Shari Sebbens Quotes

I want to be known for what I am, black and white, because I'm proud of both.

There is this really old school stereotypical notion in Australia that to be Aboriginal you have to be black: anything but white or pale skinned. What 'The Sapphires' does is open up the conversation that I've been having my whole life, the fact that being indigenous isn't about the color of your skin; it's about your connection to your culture.

I don't call myself Latin, I call myself Puerto Rican.

Most of all, I dislike this idea nowadays that if you're a black person in America, then you must be called African-American. Listen, I've visited Africa, and I've got news for everyone: I'm not an African.

I should not have to prove my ethnicity to anyone. I know who I am.

I think that at heart I am an old-fashioned Chinese, really I am.

Sometimes I have a very fleeting emotional dance with a fleeting phrase, like 'half-Mexican.'

No one tells every white person in this country how to be. No one tells every Hispanic, or Asian or Jewish person in this country how to be. There is no single definition of whiteness or single definition of blackness.

The greatest guarantee for the preservation of a person’s identity is language and faith, and all Armenians must carry these two values.

Obviously, my Indigenous culture is very special to me.

You can try to justify how Asian you are, but you're never going to make everybody happy.

I was bullied when I was in middle school in D.C., especially for being an Indian, because there weren't many Indian kids in school. And because of that, I tended to hide my Indian culture, but that changed by the end of high school. Now, I am 100% proud of it.

I've lived 16, 17 years of my life in Asia, and that's most of my life. I was born in Asia - I've lived cultures that are synonymous with Asian culture - but it's still not Asian enough for some people.

I'm not the Asian kid of 'Riverdale;' I'm Reggie, and I just happen to be Chinese.

Now that I'm older, I appreciate my culture and I appreciate Spanish. I feel bad I didn't pick up on it earlier.

Every day I think about where I come from and I am still proud to be who I am: first, a Kabyle from La Castellane, then an Algerian from Marseille, and then a Frenchman.

I am Jewish and proud of this culturally and ethnically - the ways in which I was born this way and am happy with whom I am.

I am not only a Parsi, I am a Kashmiri too.

I think my Latino culture has equipped me with a different point of view than the rest of my counterparts, and seeing things from a different angle has helped me a lot. I feel very proud of my culture, of my Latino heritage.

I'm very happy to have the heritage that I do, but I'm not wanting to be 'the Latino actor.' I just want to be 'an actor.'

I'm certainly proud to be Cuban American, and it's a fantastic opportunity for anybody - regardless of their ethnicity or nationality. It does carry a measure or pride to know where you're from and to know what your roots are.

If a country forgets where it came from, how will its people know who they are?

I knew exactly what I was, and there was no hang-up with me. None whatsoever. The fact that the pigment of my skin maybe being lighter brown than other people of my race, maybe some of them, but you know our race has all colors.

A people's relationship to their heritage is the same as the relationship of a child to its mother.

Sometimes I read that I'm not 100 per cent Chinese, because I don't look all that Chinese. That's a strange one - I am Chinese.