A Quote by Kevin Eubanks

Sometimes I wonder if I got lulled into not wanting things because I grew up black in this country. — © Kevin Eubanks
Sometimes I wonder if I got lulled into not wanting things because I grew up black in this country.
I would say I'm black because my parents said I'm black. I'm black because my mother's black. I'm black because I grew up in a family of all black people. I knew I was black because I grew up in an all-white neighborhood. And my parents, as part of their protective mechanisms that they were going to give to us, made it very clear what we were.
I got into [acting] so late because of sports. And then when I was in grad school, I sort of got lulled into basically forgetting I was black, in - meaning that everyone you play at a conservatory, 95 percent of the characters are non-black.
I think that I represent people that sometimes don't have a voice because of how they grew up or where they grew up or the options that were given to them. I was able to kick my way out of that, but we have a real class problem in this country, where it's hard to jump classes.
I've got Aussie country pride for sure. I just like where I grew up. I think you've got lots in common with the people who grew up the same as you.
I grew up wearing black arm-bands when the hunger strikers died. I went on those marches. I grew up basically a Provo, though I never obviously got into any activities. I was writing 'IRA, Brits out' on walls all over where I grew up, but that was a false sense of Irishness.
I have never considered myself a writer in exile because I grew up outside of my own country, because my father was a diplomat. Therefore, I grew up in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, the United States, I studied in Switzerland - so I've always had perspective on my country - I am thankful for that.
I'm kind of like both of them: My mother grew up wanting to save the world, and my father grew up wanting to rule the world.
We wonder why we have got the Freemen or the militants. We wonder why we have got unrest in this country. It is because our government, in fact, has got out of hand and out of line, with the Endangered Species Act.
A lot of the things I do deal with my race, but my race is who I am. I'm an American kid who grew up listening to predominantly hip-hop. I will talk about hip-hop as the music I grew up listening to, and I think sometimes people like to put it as, 'Oh, well, he's talking about black things.' And, yeah, they are, but that's my American identity.
Most of the people I've met who are black in other countries look up to the blacks in this country. Though they may talk differently, they are anxious to partake of this country simply because things in their country are not physically on par with what they are here.
One of the things that I first remember wanting to be was a 'geolisty' - that was the best I could say when I was a kid. That was right after I stopped wanting to be a fireman or a truck driver. Because my dad is a paleontologist who worked with the Smithsonian, I got to see the bones up close and the exhibits behind the scenes there.
We had some Stevie Wonder and Luther Vandross, but there's a lot of hip-hop and other black music that I just never grew up on. My parents didn't listen to anything other than black gospel.
I think people assume that because I talk the way that I talk that I grew up with money, and then I've had to say, 'No, I grew up poor.' And then I was like, 'Why do I have to play this game where the only black experience that's authentic is the one where you grew up in poverty?' I mean, it's ridiculous.
I grew up in Nashville, born and raised. I'm a country girl, and I love country music. I had a dream I was going to be the first black female country music star, but then that wasn't the case.
This is what I've dreamed about man. Putting this jersey on is a straight honor. Me being from Houston I'm giving it my heart and my everything because this is what I grew up watching and grew up wanting to be a part of. It's just an honor to play for this team.
I don't like to do press. But I know sometimes I need to do it because every time I do there's young people - black and white, but I think about young African-Americans because that's the experience I grew up with - who hear it.
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