People are just afraid of things too much … Sure, evil exists, extremism exists. Somebody could commit a hate crime and hurt me. But they could do the same just because I'm black. They could do the same just because I'm American.
Interpretation
The quote highlights the fear many people harbor regarding evil and extremism, especially towards marginalized communities.
Frank Ocean expresses the reality of fear that permeates society, particularly among marginalized individuals who face potential violence or discrimination simply for their identity. While acknowledging the existence of evil and hate crimes, he brings to light the pervasive nature of these fears, which can stem from being part of a specific racial or national group. The underlying message is about confronting these fears and recognizing that they are part of a broader societal issue.
In practice
During a speech on social justice, one might reference this quote to highlight society's struggles with fear and prejudice.
Whenever I think about movies, I always look at that art process as having the best of a lot of worlds. Because if you watch a great film, you have a musical element to it, not just on the scoring, but in the way that the shots are edited - that has music and rhythm and time.
It's about the stories. If I write 14 stories that I love, then the next step is to get the environment of music around it to best envelop the story, and all kinds of sonic goodness - sonic goodies.
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Work hard in silence, let success be your noise.
We were poor. But my mom never accepted that. She worked hard to become a residential contractor - got her master's with honors at the University of New Orleans. I used to go to every class with her. Her father was my paternal figure.
Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story, but music sometimes, just music itself, can turn into more of a maths problem. I guess everything in life is a math problem, but it can be more about an empirical route to getting the symmetry that you want, and this vibe, sonically.
I get stage fright and gremlins in my head saying: 'You're going to forget your lines'.
One arm might handicap me a little in competition, but I just work with what changes I know I have to make, and I'm pretty used to it now. It mainly depends on the wave conditions... I only get half the waves everyone else rides, so mine have to be good!
I did community theater for a long time and never had an agent. And then I got an agent and I remember that was my introduction to her telling me I wasn't enough as I was. She told me, 'You're going to have to change your hair. No one wants to see a Black woman with dreadlocks on television.' And I believed it.
To understand your fear is the beginning of really seeing.
I fear we have shot our bolt - but we have been to Pole and done the longest journey on record.
The most deadly poison of our time is indifference.
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