The myths that are created about the South, about the way we grew up, about black people, are wrong.
Being part of social movements like Black Lives Matter or organizations like NAACP, or any group representing a cause, gives you more resources, knowledge, and power. They can help you use your voice.
I mean, I'm pretty good in real life, but sometimes people seem surprised that I'm like a normal teenager and wear black nail polish and I'm just a little bit more edgy than the person I play on television.
I'd describe my look as girly-edgy. I like black nail polish and eyeliner, but I'll wear them with pink shoes.
Everyone always asks, 'Did you ever rebel? Did you dye your hair blue? Did you wear black nail polish?' I mean, of course, there have been episodes when you wear weird-colored lipstick... But generally, I think I was pretty much the way I am now.
Just because something is on trend doesn't mean you have to embrace it. You can look at it and admire it, but that doesn't mean you have to wear black nail polish or red lipstick.
I had the opportunity to train with Natalie Portman for 'Black Swan,' and the program we created was intense and involved a lot of travel.
I felt that it was my mission to see to it that black talent had an opportunity to get national television exposure.
We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit because what was native has been stolen from us, the love of Black women for each other.
It is not the intelligent woman v. the ignorant woman; nor the white woman v. the black, the brown, and the red, it is not even the cause of woman v. man. Nay, tis woman's strongest vindication for speaking that the world needs to hear her voice.
NBC was trying to convert all of their local programming to color right away to encourage the sale of the sets, so I barely remember working in black and white, although I do know that I did do it, but there was not a major difference, though.
Needless to say, I would have loved to have been a black belt instead of actually just wearing one to hold up my pants!
With George Bush's policies, I could make an argument for how they affect black people in a negative way. You know what I mean? But I wouldn't argue that he's a white supremacist.
I identified with white culture, and I wanted to fit in. I didn't identify with black culture. Like, I didn't like Tyler Perry movies, and I wasn't into hip-hop music. I liked Neil Young.
Obama was the best thing for black nerds everywhere. Finally we had a role model. Before Obama, we basically had Urkel.
I look most like myself... when I'm wearing my black, nerdy engineering glasses.
When people talked about O.J. Simpson being race-neutral, that was a race card. It just meant we don't think of him as black. But race-neutral is just like flesh-tone Band-aids. It's not neutral; it's white.
Building and launching rockets has been a lifelong hobby that my son and I share. We regularly travel to Nevada's Black Rock Desert to launch rockets.
You would never expect a black woman to be the hero.
I was raised in a very religious home with two parents who were deeply involved in the black church. When I was young, I went to a small black AME church in New Jersey.
