Don't send me your script if you want me to play the black best friend; I just won't do that. David Oyelowo More Quotes by David Oyelowo More Quotes From David Oyelowo The thing that would probably surprise most people was that Dr. Martin Luther King was a very reluctant leader. He felt very shocked at times that he had been chosen for this path, but he also understood that he was chosen for this path. He had several moments of acute doubt as to if he was up for the task - when people were injured in the protests he took it very personally, let alone when they were killed. David Oyelowo leaderkingspeople Because I was aspirational, I did my work, I was respectful to my teachers, I experienced a lot of bullying from the black kids. My friends were largely white or Asian. David Oyelowo bullyingteacherkids To break down prejudice is to get to a place of understanding, that can erode the ignorance. David Oyelowo prejudiceunderstandingignorance I'm very aware that people find my wife and I's marriage disagreeable. But all I have to do is look at my four kids, and the love I have in my heart for my wife after 18 years of marriage, and the ugliness does fade. David Oyelowo heartkidsyears There is still a fundamental misunderstanding, when it comes to observing that when someone is black and someone is white, then that difference is enough to warrant the idea that they shouldn't be together. We are so much more alike in nature than we are different, and my ambition with the roles I choose to do is to break down that prejudice, by showing how much I - as a man - am just a man. David Oyelowo ambitionmenideas We're not served by only knowing our finest hours through film or media, or in the history that we are taught. I think the only way we have a chance to not make the same mistakes again, is to historically understand the bad behavior and mistakes we've made previously. David Oyelowo mediamistakethinking I do think how two people dance with each other is indicative of how they feel about each other. It can tell a lot more than a verbal scene. David Oyelowo twopeoplethinking I basically enjoy doing films that are about something, that have complex roles that I can sink my teeth into. Basically, I gravitate to things that scare me. They might be things that I don't think I know how to play. I like trying to find within me where this character may exist. Whether is it is a fictional character or not I am not motivated by that. It is more about how challenging it is. It is just so happens that the more high profile things I have done have been historical characters. David Oyelowo playcharacterthinking People have compact to go beyond our own culture and upbringing to a degree that I think we don't acknowledge enough really. David Oyelowo degreespeoplethinking Martin Luther King was a voice to the voiceless, and he did that tirelessly, and his faith was the engine to that. But he was just a human being, at the end of the day. David Oyelowo the-end-of-the-dayvoicekings Sunday at 11 o'clock is the most segregated hour in America. You have black churches; you have white churches; you have Hispanic churches. It's not really reflective of the world we live in, by and large, in America. David Oyelowo sundaywhiteamerica I never, ever do a film and just kind of move on. I think of them as children of mine, and you don't give birth to a baby and just leave it on someone else's doorstep. You see it all the way through college. David Oyelowo babychildrenmoving I truly believe that we cannot come to a place of reconciliation until there is individual repentance and corporate repentance. David Oyelowo repentanceindividualbelieve I think that having a black president in this country has been a seismic shift, in terms of what has been going on racially in America. I think that America is now engaging with how we have come to this point. David Oyelowo countryamericathinking I truly believe slavery is why, as a by-product, we still have a disproportionate amount of black men incarcerated in the USA. It is an extension of that legacy, and that's not going to start to diminish until black people have a new sense of themselves that isn't tied to slavery and feeling inferior. I think the church can be instrumental in that, in terms of repentance, reconciliation and just being more embracing of each other - not just on Sunday, but in life generally. David Oyelowo sundaymenbelieve I know that there is still a lot of bitterness and anger, and arguably justifiably so, when you think about how brutal slavery was and what its brutal legacy still is. David Oyelowo bitternessslaverythinking As you know, Sunday at 11 o'clock is the most segregated hour in America. You have black churches; you have white churches; you have Hispanic churches. It's not really reflective of the world we live in, by and large, in America. David Oyelowo sundaywhiteamerica Hate cannot overcome hate; only love can do that. David Oyelowo only-lovehateovercoming The fact that I was black and desirous to do my work, the other kids would call me a coconut, as if I were somehow attempting to be white. The bullying was real: I'd get punched, spat at, terrible things. David Oyelowo mebullyingblackwork What we usually do to great men and women is relegate them to homogenised heroism. Their words and actions become soundbites and images in a way that gives us an excuse not to act bravely in our own lives. David Oyelowo wordsgreatwomenmen
