Cree Summer Quotes

It it weren't for HBCUs, 'A Different World' wouldn't exist.

I love what the church offers to us as a culture - black people in particular. We would be nowhere without the black church.

Doing away with separate black colleges meets resistance from alumni and other blacks.

It's our responsibility for the village to say, 'Hey we're going to create these programs,' whether it's sports, creative arts, music, we need some things to give young people positive things to do, and that's including jobs.

It is incumbent upon all of us to build communities with the educational opportunities and support systems in place to help our youth become successful adults.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, have played an important role in enriching the lives of not just African Americans, but our entire country.

The Boys and Girls club was basically a second home for me, and I always credit it with keeping me out of trouble. From the ages of 6 to 16, I was there nearly every day.

I still enjoy a lot of support from the black community.

Essence has been home for so many of us for so many years. I always say that Essence was the first place that I felt I was a pretty black girl.

I like to think my work is furthering black culture by educating and empowering black people.

I enjoy supporting projects involving disadvantaged young people and people with disabilities.

I went to a historically black college.

You know, the vibrancy of the black church, the black businesses that employ so many people, the opportunities that so many families are working to provide for their kids. There's a lot that we should be proud of and we should be supporting and lifting up.

I think that hip-hop should be spelled with a capital "H," and as one word. It's the name of our black people culture, and it's the name of our identity and consciousness. I think hip-hop is not a product, but a culture. I think rap is a product, but when hip-hop becomes a product, that's slavery, because you're talking about people's souls. To me, that's the biggest problem.

Black Girls rock because we have no other choice.

We're in a tough place in this world. There are a lot of kids giving up very early. Scripture says it takes a village to raise one child, and that's what these coaches are going to have to go back and understand.

Their [the evangelicals'] success also points to a hunger for the product they are selling, a hunger that goes beyond any particular issue or cause... They need an assurance that somebody out there cares about them, is listening to them.

A black Christian is like a black person with no memory.

The real question is how do you survive at the same time you pose those risks? Because you need to survive. And it seems to me that you survive in community or in solidarity, with others who are taking the risk with you.

It's a good time for black people to be alive.

I really want the sense of black people being interconnected: If you black and you from Chicago, there's a connective tissue we all have. Even if you're not blood related, that doesn't mean I can't look out for you.

I am a black man dedicated to expression; expression of the joy and pride of blackness. I consider myself neither poet, composer, or musician. These are merely tools used by sensitive men to carve out a piece of beauty or truth that they hope may lead to peace and salvation.

What used to help us to cope with transience was stuff like, extended families all living in one place, or very strong religious beliefs, or a tribe that would outlive you. That stuff is getting weaker.

I think that's the core of black aesthetics: the ability to improvise. That is what has enabled our [black people's] survival.

If we don't want segregation, then we need to get rid of channels like BET, and the BET Awards and the Image Awards, where you're only awarded if you're black.