I don't want to be white. I don't want to be straight. I don't want to blend in.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a desire for individuality and authenticity, rejecting societal norms related to race and sexuality.
Lena Waithe's quote reflects a powerful assertion of identity and the importance of embracing one's true self. By explicitly rejecting the desire to conform to traditional categories of race and sexuality, the speaker champions the idea of standing out and being true to one's unique identity, advocating for acceptance of diversity and nonconformity in society.
In practice
This quote could be used in a speech about embracing diversity in the workplace.
As a black woman in the industry, you really do have to hold your head higher, stick your chest out, be kind and polite and generous even when you don't want to be sometimes. I learned that and, also, just to never take no for an answer.
Being a black lesbian myself, I roll my eyes a little bit when I see black lesbian characters on shows where it's purely there for decoration. You can just hear it in the writers room... 'What if we make her a lesbian?'
It's weird because I see black gay characters on television all the time, but do I relate to them? Not always, because they're set pieces.
The cool thing about dope black style becoming in style is that the industry has no choice but to try and reduplicate that.
For me, it's about making art that's not good but phenomenal. James Baldwin didn't want to just stay above the fray. Prince didn't think, 'I wonder what the industry is gonna think about 'Purple Rain.'' It's just, is this honest? Is this real? Does this move me? The rest is icing.
Being born gay, black, and female is not a revolutionary act. Being proud to be a gay black female is.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start. The game's afoot; Follow your spirit: and upon this charge, Cry β God for Harry! England and Saint George!
My singing silenced the bullies, but better than that, it silenced the demons inside me. When you're jeered at, told to shut up, sit still, stop being silly, there's a cacophony of noise rolling around in your head. When I was singing, it was peaceful.
It could achieve a lot if everyone in Burma could stop saying something is good if it is not good, or say something is just if it is not just.
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
It would be nice if we redefined what we meant by 'war story.' If you're making $15,000 a year living in a certain area of Portland, trying to make it with three kids and no husband, that's a kind of war.
There is the guilt all soldiers feel for having broken the taboo against killing, a guilt as old as war itself. Add to this the soldier's sense of shame for having fought in actions that resulted, indirectly or directly, in the deaths of civilians. Then pile on top of that an attitude of social opprobrium, an attitude that made the fighting man feel personally morally responsible for the war, and you get your proverbial walking time bomb.
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