As an individual, and I have to say as a person of color, the thing about being an 'other' in America is I really feel like you're bilingual. I'm from a small town in Wisconsin, but even when I'm in New York and I'm working for MSNBC or CNN, you're used to being the only black person in the room.

John Ridley

Categorized in : You Feel Color Black

When it comes to fighting for freedom, those who are willing to fight should not be limited by our bigotry. Only rewarded with our gratitude.

John Ridley

gratitude fighting should

For children, diversity needs to be real and not merely relegated to learning the names of the usual suspects during Black History Month or enjoying south-of-the-border cuisine on Cinco de Mayo. It means talking to and spending time with kids not like them so that they may discover those kids are in fact just like them.

John Ridley

real mean children

With fear of stating the obvious: Freedom belongs to 'We the People,' not 'They the Politicians.'

John Ridley

obvious politician people

As a writer, as a storyteller, you have to have your emotions close, and the older I've gotten, the less I've worried about not displaying emotions.

John Ridley

storyteller worried emotion

For every horrific event, something beautiful happens.

John Ridley

horrific events beautiful

Facts tend to take the punch out of a good hate rant and are therefore left best unsaid.

John Ridley

unsaid hate facts

Bigots are actually funny to me in the way that people who still wear parachute pants give me a chuckle.

John Ridley

giving people way

We see films all the time, whether they have access to all kinds of intellectual property or artifacts, and the one thing that they don't get is story. So I think whether you're talking about a biopic or an action film or a science-fiction film that has all the CGI in the world, if you're not trying to connect with an audience, it doesn't really matter.

John Ridley

intellectual talking thinking

It is time to celebrate the New Black Americans - those who have sealed the Deal, who aren't beholden to liberal indulgence any more than they are to the disdain of the hard Right. It is time to praise blacks who are merely undeniable in their individuality and exemplary in their levels of achievement .

John Ridley

achievement individuality black

As a coping mechanism, or as a way to make a little hard count by shilling demons in the shadows, I try not to belittle the thought process of the conspiracy theorists. As a cocktail waitress in Vegas once schooled me: never get down on anybody else's hustle.

John Ridley

coping-mechanisms vegas hustle

I've no desire to start a movement, to be the first name on an open petition, or to be the poster child for disgruntled writers.

John Ridley

names desire children

I don't know when I made that active decision to be a writer or to try to write, but I know I always liked storytelling.

John Ridley

decision writing trying

Gay marriage will be universally accepted in time. But if I may be so bold as to say to gays and lesbians, don't wait for that time to arrive. Just as my father and his generation did not 'wait' for their civil rights, nor should you. The toothpaste ain't going back in the tube. The tide has turned.

John Ridley

gay rights father

Even I haven't downed enough L.A. Kool-Aid to believe that somehow Hollywood movies are an overt instrument of morality.

John Ridley

morality hollywood believe

I can tell you from personal experience it gets a little tiring having to make the rounds on cable shows to explain 'what's up with black folks.'

John Ridley

tire black littles

My kids will find me walking around the house talking to myself and think I'm going crazy. I like to read the scripts out loud and really get the rhythm for the dialogue.

John Ridley

crazy kids thinking

There is not a country on earth whose people don't deserve to be free and safe.

John Ridley

earth country people

Quite simply, quite plainly, just by virtue of his being, Barack Obama is America. The first true American to lead our nation.

John Ridley

virtue america firsts

I'm sorry, but chick fights are sexy. If you don't think so, you're either an uptight woman or a lying man.

John Ridley

sexy sorry lying

There's something very special about knowing what you want to do and knowing the story you want to tell, but finding it together.

John Ridley

knowing special together