Slavery ended and left its false images of black people intact
The first movie I ever saw was a blaxploitation movie. It was called 'Monkey Hustle.' Like I said, just listen to the name. That's a blaxploitation movie. It had these incredible, bigger-than-life images of people who looked like I did. Or who looked like I wanted to look like.
I Hated Duke. I Felt Like They Only Recruited Black Players That Were Uncle Toms.
[Educated blacks] Society refuses to consider them genuine Negroes. The Negro is a savage, whereas the student is civilized. "You're us," and if anyone thinks you are a Negro he is mistaken, because you merely look like one.
We only put the negative black people on television. We don't put the good, hard-working black people.
There are still plenty of movie people peddling black stereotypes. I guess Tyler Perry's probably the most massively successful.
As a teenager, my blackness was also questioned by some of the life choices I made that weren't considered to be 'black' choices. For example, joining the swim team when it is a known fact that 'black folk don't swim'; or choosing to become a vegetarian when blacks clearly love chicken.
I carry a knife now because I read in a white magazine that all black people carry knives. So I rushed out and bought me one.
Where are the exhortations for children to reject the self-defeating stereotypes that reduce black people to violent, oversexed 'gangstas,' minstrel show comedians and mindless athletes?
I have no problem dressing up . . . because I know I'm a nice-looking guy. But as far as chains, I definitely feel that's a racial statement. Almost 100% of the guys in the league who are young and black wear big chains. So I definitely don't agree with that at all.
Within a lot of African-American households, I think, there's an idea that black men don't want to take an active participation in the lives of their children. That if they do, there has to be some sort of ulterior motive.
I get braids all the time. You can't tell me I'm acting black because I braid my hair. That makes no sense whatsoever.
Sometimes the stereotypes that a lot of people have are of black men in jail or who don't take care of their kids, so I think it's always important to have that.
The ingrained image of black men being searched by the police feeds into the collective illusion that black men everywhere need to be policed more than others.
Do you have blacks, too?
I think the stereotypes many black men are put under, even in the entertainment world, can sometimes have a dark or negative undertone.
