A Quote by Dee Rees

My dad was a cop, you know, and I grew up three houses down from people who used Confederate flags as curtains. — © Dee Rees
My dad was a cop, you know, and I grew up three houses down from people who used Confederate flags as curtains.
I'm from Anderson, S.C., but I grew up in the South. So I know what it is to ride to school and have Confederate flags flying from trucks in front of me and behind me, to see a parking lot full of people with Confederate flags and know what that means. I've been stopped by police for no reason.
I grew up in a few houses because my dad was a builder, so we used to build and sell quite a lot.
I live in the South; there are Confederate flags everywhere.
I was raised by my mom. My dad was always traveling, but she allowed me and encouraged me to be close to my dad. So I grew up with three parents: my mom, my dad and my stepmom. Ninety percent of the time I was with my mom, and 10 percent was with my dad.
My dad is a carpenter, a joiner, and I used to watch him make things. So I always imagined that I'd do something where I made things, too. I was really more interested in architecture growing up because I would work with my dad on houses.
We all have rosy memories of a simpler, happy time- a time of homemade apple pie and gingham curtains, a time when Mom understood everything and Dad could fix anything. "Let's get those traditional family values back!" we murmur to each other. Meanwhile, in a simultaneous universe, everyone I know, and every celebrity I don't know, is coming out of the closet to talk about how miserable they are because they grew up in dysfunctional families.
My mum and dad used to listen to a lot of R&B and soul, so this was the way I grew up. Hip-hop, of course. But then as I grew older, I started listening to everything.
I still want to be the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks.
I'm not against pulling down our statues of Confederate generals and Confederate leaders.
NASCAR - everybody thinks redneck, Confederate flags, racists. And I hate it. I hate it because I know NASCAR is so much more.
I grew up in rural Arizona. My dad ran a general store. I grew up learning to do more with less. And I have been saying, you know, Washington needs to do the same.
I grew up poor and used to look at people in big houses and thought they had everything. Then later on I looked at models in magazines and thought they had it all.
Now, that doesn't mean that individuals can't have Confederate flags on their property. They have the right to do that. But again, it represents something that is not unifying.
I grew up across the street from, you know, the Villarias, which was a great Mexican family there. In fact, there was three houses right across the street from me. So, day and night, I listened to Mexican music, and I'm sure, you know, my guitar playing, singing, writing, whatever, has a lot of Mexican flavor there, but it comes natural.
My parents did the whole good-cop/bad-cop thing - Dad was the bad cop, and Mom was the good cop. I remember my father saying, 'I'm his father, not his friend.' That kind of stuck with me.
I know that Dad was an idol to millions who grew up loving his music and his ideals. But to me he wasn't a musician or a peace icon, he was the father I loved and who let me down in so many ways. After the age of five, when my parents separated, I saw him only a handful of times, and when I did he was often remote and intimidating. I grew up longing for more contact with him but felt rejected and unimportant in his life. ... ... While Dad was fast becoming one of the wealthiest men in his field, Mum and I had very little and she was going out to work to support us.
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