A Quote by Too Short
I've always had opinions on what was going on in my community. I always knew a lot of people listened to me, so why don't I speak on police brutality and things like that?
Related Quotes
We run into police brutality often and it's always a problem that we always have to protest and speak out.
Jay Z and Biggie and Nas always listened to my direction. They listened and they applied it and I also listened to their opinions and that's why the records came out so good.
It's one of the roles of a lifetime to be able to play someone like Mr. Cochran who was so influential. People knew about his work in regard to police brutality. He was very much a staple in the community - someone who, if there was trouble, people knew, 'Go get Johnnie Cochran.'
I always knew I was different and that people had opinions about me. I guess I learned as best as I can to shield out a lot and live my life from within.
You always have to prove yourself. I always thought I had to go beyond things to get great grades. When I was applying for college, even though I knew I was going to play soccer, I always knew I had to do something above and beyond and not give anyone a reason not to overlook me.
Why wouldn't the police officers be on edge? Why wouldn't they be alert? And why wouldn't people in the community trust police officers? Because they are consistently harassing them, and they have experience with police officers doing awful things.
There are so many things going on in this world that are unbelievable. A lot of gun violence and police brutality.
I always knew I was going to be successful in some way with films. I don't know why. I had no particular talent, but I always knew I was going to be sitting in a dining room with Lucille Ball and at a cocktail party with Bette Davis.
I've always had a problem with the things that people would say out of their mouths to other people. I've always had a problem with that, because a lot of people, they don't have enough information to speak to people a certain way or speak about people a certain way.
The black community wants to buy things and want to see themselves portrayed in a certain way. And if they don't like what they see, then they won't spend their money. Everyone's not gonna always relate to Captain America; everyone is not going to always relate to Thor. A lot of characters just don't speak to them.
I always knew what I had, and I knew I was more than just 'the foreign guy.' I have personality, and as soon as I had chance to show it, I just did it. A lot of people don't like it, and a lot of people frown upon it and think I should just be stuck in that box, but it's just not me.
That's critical to me, the community. When I was 12 years old, I had a mental breakdown; I went berserk for a long time. I felt rejection from the white community. Couldn't understand why the pigmentation of my skin kept me from doing. Everybody always told me "You're going to be something." And of course, I began to raise questions about why it is that white folks treat us the way they do. The breakdown was very vivid. I just all of a sudden felt like I had been overcome by a train.
I always knew that there were huge opportunities for me, and that I had a lot of potential to do a lot of different things, but I also knew it was about my execution and my application of skills.
I've always had a lot of energy and had a lot of opinions all my life - people misunderstood that about me being naughty, gobby, or different.
You're not going to have the police force representing the black and brown community, if they've spent the last 30 years busting every son and daughter and father and mother for every piddling drug offense that they've ever done, thus creating a mistrust in the community. But at the same time, you should be able to talk about abuses of power, and you should be able to talk about police brutality and what, in some cases, is as far as I'm concerned, outright murder and outright loss of justice without the police organization targeting you in the way that they have done me.
People wonder if I'll always be a part of this family and the answer is yes. My family has a lot of good energy going in one direction and because of it, we get a lot of things done. That's why I'll always spend a lot of time at Camp Phoenix.
Related Authors
Barack Obama Quotes
American
President
Benjamin Franklin Quotes
American
Politician
Cassandra Clare Quotes
American
Author
Deepak Chopra Quotes
American
Speaker
Donald Trump Quotes
American
President
Frederick Lenz Quotes
American
Author
George W. Bush Quotes
American
President
Henry David Thoreau Quotes
American
Author
Hillary Clinton Quotes
American
Politician
Mark Twain Quotes
American
Writer
Noam Chomsky Quotes
American
Activist
Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
American
Philosopher
Rick Riordan Quotes
American
Author
Rush Limbaugh Quotes
American
Entertainer
Sherrilyn Kenyon Quotes
American
Writer
Thomas Jefferson Quotes
American
President