Roger Ross Williams Quotes

The first time I saw the Dutch character known as Black Pete, or Zwarte Piet, my heart sank, and I felt a little nauseated.

No one actually cares about blackface.

Our touchstones of slavery are 'Song of the South,' 'Gone With the Wind' and 'The Birth of a Nation.' It's hard to separate the cinematic quality from the underlying themes. I appreciate the films, but the message was repugnant.

It's barely OK for me to be dressed up as a black guy. But part of me kind of enjoys provoking people.

I played Othello at RADA - blacked up. I didn't know it was going to be offensive now!

Not that long ago - in my parents' lives, in fact - actors in minstrel shows wore blackface to mimic and mock African Americans. These performances were based in contempt and gave people an opportunity to act out their prejudices.

In Australia, there just weren't strong roles for actors of colour. I was often being asked to turn up for commercials with a ghetto blaster on my shoulder. I thought, 'Are we in the '60s?'

It is claimed, but with what truth we cannot say, that there is a well-defined propaganda among the aliens of colour to bring about the degeneration of the white race.

I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American.

Everyone is so terrified of being labeled a racist.

If the KKK was smart enough, they would've created gangsta rap because it's such a caricature of black culture and black masculinity.

America is so accustomed to some depiction of native people that is entirely racist, and there's a perception that that is okay.

Like, Australians definitely don't walk around dressed up in blackface going, 'Ha-ha.'

We have a lot of black Anglo-Saxons. Their skin is black, but their brain is white. When I get real mad at them, I call them 'graham crackers.'

There's so much material out there that's unnecessarily racist. It takes a shot at what is 'urban' or demonstrates blackness with some sassy, neck-jiving character that's not even relevant to the plot. I see it time and time again, and it doesn't move the story forward. It just kind of cryogenically freezes us in this old racial paradigm.

Race is a fact of life and is not a problem unless people make it out to be so

Barack Obama is an educated fool. He is viewed as the white man in blackface in the community.

There's a difference between racism and people making a joke about something. There is true racism going on, and people should be able to identify what that is, comparatively.

I never thought black people would say I wasn't black enough. It didn't turn me into a bully - it just put me on the defensive. I had to watch my back. It made me stronger because I learned how to deal with ignorance.

'Dear White People' started a conversation about race. It's such a difficult thing to talk about, especially in America because of our history. I love that you can confront it with humour and with satire.

There is racism all over the United States. Most Southerners I know, we definitely find ourselves defending our heritage.

It was definitely during the Obama administration that talking about racism, or calling it out, suddenly seemed taboo. It seemed like talking about race was somehow summoning the evil of racism.

I will not sit in a room with black people when the N word is used. I know it was meant to belittle a person, so I will not sit there and have that poison put on me. Now a black person can say, 'Oh, you know, I can use this word because I'm black.'

You can't understand what happened to Michael Brown in Ferguson, you can't understand what happened to Eric Garner in New York City, without understanding this narrative of racial difference that was created during the slave years.

White fragility doesn't always manifest in overt ways; silence and withdrawal are also functions of fragility.