Top 103 Quotes & Sayings by Jemele Hill
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American journalist Jemele Hill.
Last updated on December 3, 2024.
I don't know of any coach - black, red or green - who could have coached Lawrence Taylor better than Bill Parcells.
As a kid, I heard elders in my family say in passing that Jewish people were consumed with making money, and that they 'owned everything.' My relatives never dwelled on the subject, and nothing about their tone indicated that they thought anything they were saying was anti-Semitic - not that a lack of awareness would be any excuse.
I once wrote about Don Imus that 'speech is free, but consequences are not.' I never want to be the exception to that rule, and I'm not sure any of us want to live in a world where hurtful things are hurled around without cost.
Because Shaq played alongside one of the most disliked, phenomenally talented players in NBA history, Shaq became a great guy without really having to do anything. People love Shaq because he's not Kobe.
Black people, too, are capable of being culturally arrogant.
When it comes to race, uncomfortable is best. How can we learn if we always feel good about where we are? The best checks and balances require that we re-evaluate, learn and grow.
Not to oversimplify what football coaches do, but their success or failure hinges on concepts that aren't foreign to any coach.
Even though I'm from Detroit, my favorite NFL team is the 49ers. My mother went to junior college in the Bay area and Joe Montana was her favorite athlete. So somehow I became a 49ers fan.
Kobe Bryant is better than Michael Jordan. Not more successful. Hasn't had a bigger economic impact. Hasn't won more MVPs. Hasn't won more titles. But he's a better player.
Black men constantly receive the message that they can't make it in life through using legitimate means, and the only way they gain society's respect is through the street game.
I used to think my dad and I talked sports because it was just an easy way for two people who didn't know each other that well to make conversation. I see now it's also a way for me to see who my dad really is and, if I'm lucky, see why he made the choices he did.
America hasn't been able to grapple with the uncomfortable reality that police brutality is encoded in this country's DNA.
Perspective should never influence punishment. Too often in our society, we practice selective perspective. We're willing to see all the angles only when it suits us. When perspective becomes inconvenient, we can be unflinching, even cruel.
A black athlete being reduced to a savage is, sadly, nothing new.
The best-player argument shouldn't be determined by personal dislike.
This country's response to the coronavirus has been disastrous because of poor, incompetent leadership at the national and state levels. More than 4.6 million Americans have become infected with the coronavirus. Basic safety precautions have been manipulated into a political issue.
When you're young, you do dumb things. I just can't understand why some other athletes never were extended that same excuse.
Two things you almost always see when 'MTV Cribs' features a black superstar: a poster of Tony Montana and a poster of the Godfather. Montana and Michael Corleone, though fictional, are considered heroes by young black men everywhere.
Professional athletes have a special relationship with their cars. Some treat their cars better than their wives or girlfriends. Some are more loyal to their cars than their teams.
I routinely get e-mails from readers who are disgusted because they feel the race card is played too much and inappropriately. (By the way, can someone put the phrase 'race card' in a cryogenic chamber and never thaw it? It demeans what is still a real struggle).
One of the worst things in sports is when selfishness gets disguised as truth.
Trump delights in building his campaigns around white Americans' racial anxieties.
When I was at The Orlando Sentinel as a sports columnist, it was embarrassing that I was the only black female sports columnist at a daily newspaper in North America.
My love of sports and my love of journalism coincided. One fed the other.
I think one of the innate challenges that comes with being on ESPN is that it is a sports network. It is an entertainment space largely, and because of that - as should be the case - politics aren't expected to be addressed in a meaningful way at a sports network.
Plenty of other franchises have reinvented themselves into winners after hitting rock bottom. The 1976 Tampa Bay team that went 0-14 arguably was worse than the 2008 Lions, but the Bucs reached the NFC Championship Game in 1979 and ultimately won the Super Bowl after the 2002 season.
A studio gangster dupes people into believing he's a tough guy, but in reality he's the former student body president and member of the National Honor Society. Once Vanilla Ice was fingered as a studio gangster, his career was over. Thank God.
When a country doesn't respect Black lives, maybe it doesn't deserve to be entertained by Black athletes.
I firmly believe you don't get better until you've been at your worst.
As an NBA fan, there is nothing more irritating than when the league's credibility is challenged by cockamamy conspiracy theories.
The paid professionals who navigate the complications of playing their sport during a pandemic at least share in the financial rewards. Far worse off are college football players - who lack the union protection and financial resources of their professional counterparts.
Just because I'm a black woman doesn't mean I've got an automatic sensitivity chip for cultures outside of my own.
Contrary to stodgy opinions, young men have a right to go out. They want to hang with their peers. They want to talk to women. They want to show off a little of their success. Nothing wrong with any of that - as long as they're careful.
As a society, there are times when we need to stand together against indecency and cruelty.
Just because I've written extensively about race doesn't render me incapable of making the same mistakes as the people I've written about.
Every day, we read about athletes who let their sport define them.
When you're a kid, you don't understand your parents are flawed people. You want them to be perfect, and when they aren't, it's hard to deal with.
After my grandmother finished watching 'Lawrence Welk,' my dad would race to the TV and put on the weekly hockey game. He loved watching Henri Richard, Gordie Howe and Terry Sawchuk. My dad's seven brothers and sisters weren't particularly thrilled with his viewing choices.
Yes, I discuss race openly, honestly and, hopefully, intelligently.
My father played hockey until he was 18.
Too often, black athletes are presented as angry, overly aggressive and overly sexual. Or sometimes, they're just plain emasculated.
The Lakers got Pau Gasol for 10 rubles and a John Tesh DVD.
Most college athletes are obsessed with getting to the pros, and many of them have proved they will do anything to get there, even if it's something unethical.
A moral stand by the sports industry is what finally settled the long, unfortunate debate over Mississippi's state flag.
I just hope that my success is in some way influencing other outlets to really be much more purposeful in promoting, advancing and recruiting people of color.
No problem in the history of humankind has ever gotten solved by evading it.
Shaq is like an oversized muppet, and who doesn't love muppets?
While America is generally a violent place, no culture in this country glorifies violence more than the African-American community. And consequently, no other racial group is as disproportionately affected by it.
The sports world provides a great platform for racial discussions. It's also one of the few places in society where, 99 percent of the time, performance trumps race. Most times, but not always.
The thirst for liberation and equality can never come at the expense of dehumanizing other marginalized groups - especially at a time when hate crimes against Jews have increased significantly.
I prefer rappers who have something intelligent to say.
Although study after study shows black men are more likely to be victims of crime, rarely do they receive victim treatment. When black athletes are crime victims, the undertone seems to be they somehow were at fault.
Think about the most successful coaches in sports. What did they all have in common? It wasn't their knowledge of X's and O's. It was their ability to lead, motivate and manage - traits you need no matter what or where you coach.
I don't stick up for Al Sharpton often because I consider him an agitator, but Sharpton's views on 'gangsta' rap have been consistent and clear.
I am the columnist who plays the would-this-happen-to-a-white-guy game because there are just too many double standards. But I'm equal opportunity with the game, including Hispanics, Asians, women and men.
I think that a lot of people, especially as technology began to speed up and we became more distant, we kind of started to lose our appreciation for human contact and gathering and friendships and a lot of the things that we really took for granted.
A NASCAR guy can drop-kick another driver through his car window and it is just considered part of the sport. Hockey players drop their sticks and pound on one another on a regular basis and no one dares blame it on anything other than just a boiling, competitive spirit.
If you've ever seen photos of LeBron James away from the basketball court, it's obvious he takes great pride in his appearance.
Stereotypical and hurtful tropes about Jews are widely accepted in the African American community.
Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson and Patrick Ewing will be among the best centers ever, but none of them affected the league the way Shaq and Tim Duncan have.
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