Justin Simien Quotes

Every now and then I'm in a situation where someone doesn't recognize me, and I experience racism. Things like not being buzzed into a store or sitting in first class on a plane and having someone ask to see my ticket four times.

I was an aspiring astrophysicist, and that's how I defined myself, not by my skin color. People didn't treat me as someone with science ambitions. They treated me as someone they thought was going to mug them, or who was a shoplifter.

If I'm a cop, and every time I see a young black youth - whether I watch them on TV, movies, or just see them hanging out - and they're not looking properly dressed, properly refined, you know, carrying himself, conducting himself proper hours of the day - things that a man does - you're going to have a certain fear and stereotype of them.

People think I'm this angry black man walking around in a constant state of rage.

The same kinds of stereotypes and hunches that George Zimmerman used when deciding that, you know, Trayvon Martin seemed like a threat in his neighborhood, law enforcement officers employ all the time.

I resent ever being stereotyped.

Asian males have not been appreciated for what they are. They have always been dissed for what they are not.

We're conditioned in this country to believe that if there's a problem, the black man is usually the culprit.

I became stereotyped.

I refuse to be stereotyped.

I can be standing in Barneys with my coat and purse and my selections, and some white woman will say, 'Can you get this in my size?' What she sees is a black woman, and her service button goes off.

I think I'm going to be stereotyped forever, but I'm not scared of being stereotyped.

If someone's intimidated by me, that's something they have to deal with. When I walk down the streets of New York and an old woman grabs her purse when I pass by, I'm not going to give it a whole lot of energy because I'm not in the wrong. I'm a millionaire, and I'm not thinking about grabbing an old woman's purse.

Stereotypes and perceptions have their real effects.

White people scare the crap out of me... I have never been attacked by a black person, never been evicted by a black person, never had my security deposit ripped off by a black landlord, never had a black landlord... never been pulled over by a black cop, never been sold a lemon by a black car salesman, never seen a black car salesman, never had a black person deny me a bank loan, never had a black person bury my movie, and I've never heard a black person say, "We're going to eliminate ten thousand jobs here— have a nice day

As the President of the United States of America, your skin speaks before your mouth opens.

I do know that people treat me different with blonde hair than they do with red hair.

The broad brush of stereotyping is what least appeals to people of color.

Maybe at some level, even at an early age, without ever being aware of it, I was reacting to something. To people judging me based on how I looked instead of what I could do.

I didn't have a problem with myself or my skin. I had a problem with the way people treated me because of my skin. They tried to define me.

Color don't mean anything. People gonna try to put you in a place one way or the other.

I am followed in department stores. I have walked in dressed professionally or dressed in jeans, and I have walked into stores, and instantly, security is on my back.

I haven't ever been stereotyped or pigeonholed or put into a box.

Here's a fact: I absolutely understand the humiliation of being stopped for no reason other than driving while black.

Let's be honest: For a lot of well-meaning, open-minded white people, the sight of a young, black man in a hoodie still evokes a twinge of fear.