My immediate family was always very supportive. It was my own fear of the rest of the world not accepting me, the rest of our society not accepting my wish to be an actor.
Lupita Nyong'ORead
Slavery is something that is all too often swept under the carpet. The shame doesn't even belong to us, but we still experience it because we're a part of the African race. If it happened to one, it happened to all. We carry that burden.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the collective burden of slavery and its lasting impact on the African race.
Lupita Nyong'o highlights the ongoing effects of slavery that extend beyond the historical context, affecting the identity and collective consciousness of individuals within the African race. She asserts that the shame associated with it is not theirs to bear alone, yet it still influences their lives, fostering a sense of shared responsibility and resilience in confronting this legacy.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions during educational seminars about the history of slavery.
My immediate family was always very supportive. It was my own fear of the rest of the world not accepting me, the rest of our society not accepting my wish to be an actor.
[My mother] always said I was beautiful and I finally believed her at some point.
What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion: for yourself and for those around you.
That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade in that beauty.
As human beings, we aren't as individual as we'd like to believe we are. And I think that's what makes acting possible. Despite the fact that I have not experienced something, I have it in my human capacity to imagine it and to put myself in someone else's shoes, and to take someone else's circumstances personally.
I've loved the opportunity to learn about the fashion world and appreciate it as an art form, and I look forward to my continued education, but I never want it to take over my acting.
Who knows if the one whose hands are bloodied with Father Grande's murder, or the one who shot Father Navarro, if those who have killed, who have tortured, who have done so much evil, are listening to me? Listen, there in your criminal hideout, perhaps already repentant, you too are called to forgiveness.
I'm no hero. Heroes don't come back. Survivors return home. Heroes never come home. If anyone thinks I'm a hero, I'm not.
I knew someone had to take the first step. So I made up my mind not to move.
For many child soldiers, war and violence are all they have ever known. If we don't take it upon ourselves to show them an alternative, then they're going to be soldiers forever, and they'll continue to be recruited and to participate in violence if another conflict starts five or 10 years down the road.
Once I was lost in a forest. I was so afraid. My blood pounded in my chest and I knew my heart's strength would soon be exhausted. I saved myself without thinking. I grasped the two syllables closest to me, and replaced my heartbeat with your name.
I am a post-mastectomy woman who believes our feelings need voice in order to be recognized, respected, and of use.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.