Aboriginal people have much to celebrate in this country's British heritage
We have received a heritage of craftsmanship, of aesthetics, of taste, of identity. Our brands have the beauty to preserve and perpetuate it.
What we still haven't done is really learned and embraced our history. When we do that, we'll no longer be doubtful and fearful that we are weak and incomplete.
I think what I've learned out of this lifetime is you should be proud of where you come from.
I want you to know how I feel about my Italian heritage, so I'd like to say a few words in Italian: Verdi, Pavarotti, DiMaggio, Valentino, De Niro, Giuliani. . .
A lot of groups spend their whole cultural and aesthetic identity trying to move away from Africa, which I think is a mistake. One of the reasons I love Cuba and cultures like that is because they're not trying to move away from their African roots, they're trying to embrace them. That's part of the culture.
It is sometimes hard to grasp the difference between identifying with one's own roots, understanding people with other roots, and judging what is good or bad.
I think it's really important to teach our children about their lineage and it especially makes a difference if you share that information while they're young.
We want to raise our children so that they can take a sense of pleasure in both their own heritage and the diversity of others.
I'm constantly being inspired by the old days and taking things from the past and allowing them to lift me up where I am now.
I have a respect for family pride. If it be a prejudice, it is a prejudice in its most picturesque shape. But I hold it is connected with some of the noblest feelings in our nature.
I love to live things, so I wanted to immerse myself and get into the mindset - and sandals - of my forefathers.
I am all for cultural diversity and would be willing to see each recognizable group value its cultural heritage. I am a New York patriot, for instance, and if I lived in Los Angeles, I would love to get together with other New York expatriates and sing "Give My Regards to Broadway".
My family has always had Cape Verdean pride but I don't think it was something the kids in the family necessarily understood. However, I was very conscious of the fact that both sides of my family were drastically different and my aunts, cousins, and uncles varied in different shades of brown.
We all have to appreciate where we come from and how wonderful our parents were.
And of course these days I feel like there is a nation of us - displaced southerners and children of the working class. We listen to Steve Earle, Mary J. Blige, and k.d. lang. We devour paperback novels and tell evil mean stories, value stubbornness above patience and a sense of humor more than a college education. We claim our heritage with a full appreciation of how often it has been disdained. And let me promise you, you do not want to make us angry.
Before, we may have taken part in it without even thinking it was American Jewish, but in this case, I think, you have now perhaps pointed us in a direction of a new interest in this repertoire.
We are really living the American dream, to be a successful brand in the States and in Europe and to steep ourselves in our heritage. But we do it with a sense of humor. We don't take ourselves too seriously in fashion.
Now it is just this world we like the best, the Germanic world, the world of Nordic life.
I cherish my beautiful Italian heritage.
I'm one of those people that, if I'm in the country, I will have a look inside an old church.
