Anna Deavere Smith Quotes

Perhaps the most important people that I should photograph are the people who don't have a voice.

I tend to focus on young people and on giving a voice to groups of people who don't normally get their voices heard.

I am here to give voice to the invisible.

I feel a real sense of duty to use the voice and the platform I've been afforded by my fame to speak out for those whose voices don't get a chance to be heard.

Am I attracted to people who want to give other people a voice? Yes I am, and that may be a 'common denominator with the characters that I play.

A voice that was never wanted has become a voice for so many people who don’t have one.

You've got so many groups that have no voice in this world - the indigenous, the poor. So how can I use the resources that I have and bring them up, highlight them. And it's not that difficult. It's just choosing and concentrating and focusing.

I try to take what voice I have and I give it to those who don’t have one at all.

I like to give a voice to others, especially things neglected or despised.

I've learned how to measure what I say. Al Sharpton in 1986 was trying to be heard. I was a local guy and was like, 'Y'all are ignoring us.'

I know there are a lot of people out there who have the best intentions but not the voice, so it's about people like me to give them a voice and hear their ideas.

My writing is often a way of 'bearing witness' for others who lack the education and the opportunity to tell their own stories, so I hope that my writing won't be affected too much by my personal life.

At the end of the day, what I have is the power to give a louder voice to people who have issues, questions and problems.

We need leaders who will stand up for the little guy and listen once again.

I don't feel drawn to lightness, I need something more. I feel that - oh, I hate saying this, it sounds so wanky - but I feel a real urge to give voices to people we don't usually hear from in real life.

In creating my YouTube videos, I don't want to speak for my audience and the people I represent; I want to amplify their voices.

The purpose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence.

Speak up for the people that nobody speaks for.

Go out and speak for the inarticulate and submerged.

This stand wasn't because I feel like I'm being put down in any kind of way. This is because I'm seeing things happen to people that don't have a voice: people that don't have a platform to talk and have their voices heard and affect change. So I'm in the position where I can do that, and I'm going to do that for people that can't.

My job as an artist is to speak up for those who might be perceived as the losers. Or those who can't shout. No wonder public-school people always get into politics or acting: they're taught to shout that much more loudly.

As your Senator, I always fought the fight for those who could not fight for themselves, and I believe the results speak for themselves.

I hope that a lot of the men and women who feel forgotten in this country really see that they have in me a champion.

It's time for storytellers to tell the stories that have not had the privilege of being shown to the world, and the audience will be there.

I'm always wanting and willing to be a voice for my people, a voice for the injustice.