Talib Kweli Quotes

'The Cosby Show' changed America's opinion on so many different topics and opened so many people's eyes, and so you really learned immediately the power of what you were doing, that there was a power in portraying a role, and you were made aware of the effect that it could have on people, so it does raise the bar.

The man of the millennium is much more liberated than the man of the '90s.

I do think it's well over-time to have a female Doctor Who. I think a gay, black female Doctor Who would be the best of all.

We can now have action movies with two stars where one might be African American and one might be Asian American. One of them doesn't have to be white, and the other one doesn't have to be the ethnic sidekick. We're way over that. And I think it's happening in society, too.

We do have a black president, and that means a lot. People ask, 'What has he done?' What he's done is change the color up, which you see on the screen. When the head of the free world is black, there's got to be some sort of spin-off from it.

I feel it's important for the geeks to have a voice. 'Dope' is going to give a lot of people a new perspective.

Cinema has the power to change the society. Through my films, the kind of characters I have played and will play, I am trying to do my bit in changing the patriarchal mindset.

For years, 'Drag Race' was gay people's best kept secret. When I started doing drag, people didn't know anything about it. Look at it now: it's like it's gone from black and white to IMAX.

Christians lost the battle in the public square over gay marriage because, frankly, we were outthought, outfought, and outmarketed on the issue.

The day Obama got elected, the gangsta became less relevant.

We’ve been fighting about gay marriage for what, 15-20 years now. Is there any evidence that fighting gay marriage is contributing to a greater appreciation among the broad society of the marital institution? Is there any evidence that the re-institutionalization of marriage is happening as a result of opposing gay marriage? And the best answer I can give to that is 'no.'

The success [of the X-Men], I think, is for two reasons. The first is that, creatively, the book was close to perfect ... but the other reason is that it was a book about being different in a culture where, for the first time in the West, being different wasn't just accepted, but was also fashionable. I don't think it's a coincidence that gay rights, black rights, the empowerment of women and political correctness all happened over those twenty years and a book about outsiders trying to be accepted was almost the poster-boy for this era in American culture.

Gay marriage is inevitable. The next generation, they get it. It is just a matter of time before it becomes a reality.

I don't pay attention to the 'marginalizers.' They simply don't have any impact anymore, on where we're headed or what the law is. I'm not worried about gay people in America right now, as opposed to their status in other countries. The change here was remarkable and swift, which was awesome, and we've witnessed that change right before our eyes.

More people more accepting of civil unions and gay marriage, which our pollster said was the most significant change they've seen on any social issue. So, this country is changing in a way.

Religions have approved themselves; they have ministered to sundry vital needs which they found reigning. When they violated other needs too strongly, or when other faiths came which served the same needs better, the first religions were supplanted.

The gay marriage thing to me, I don't understand why it's so important for the secular progressives in this country, the people who want to change America fundamentally and every way, why this is the lead issue. The L.A. Times, New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Boston Globe. These people are going, 'Oh, my God, what are you doing? How can you not see the civil rights aspect of this?'

Female directors, directors of color are a big thing for me, which are both important voices and potent voices that need to be heard. That's how I want to engage myself as an actor going forward.

It just seems like the culture war is over, and the gay kissers won.

When the message out there is so horrible that, to be gay, you can get killed for it... we need to change the message!!

The way even movements change is stunning: Chinese communist capitalists? Evangelicals deciding to be nice to gay people?

I think the best way to be an activist is to live your life well and be honest. It means being out. If you are not comfortable marching, you can make a big difference just by working side by side with someone who actually knows you're gay and a fine human being.

America didn't need repeal, she needed repentance!

Political correctness has changed everything. People forget that political correctness used to be called spastic gay talk.

My analysis is that the gays are about 5% of the attack on marriage in this country, and the feminists are about 95%.