Every day I'm reassessing what I've been taught against what I see, and the man I need to be if I'm going to call myself a leader of anybody. Nate Parker More Quotes by Nate Parker More Quotes From Nate Parker Any psychologist will tell you that healing comes from honest confrontation with our injury or with our past. Whatever that thing is that has hurt us or traumatized us, until we face it head on, we will have issues moving forward in a healthy way. Nate Parker face you moving-forward past I walked around feeling, in a sense, that people of color, we began at the bottom of a slave ship. We were enslaved; we picked cotton. There was Honest Abe, who wore a top hat and was taller than anyone and who said, 'Enough is enough; slavery must end.' And then, black people could stand up again. But after that, we didn't catch up. Nate Parker feeling slavery black people My father passed away when I was very young, so I was head of household for a very long time. Whether it came to cooking food or having to braid hair to get kids out of the door for school, I've been one that has - with the help of my mother - has been a father figure for a lot of young ladies. Nate Parker mother time food father So if I'm 36, and I have my 19-year-old self, I'm pulling him to the side and saying, 'Listen bruh, throwing on your Timbs and your fitted hat and strolling campus trying to get a girl to say yes, or going to the club hoping you bring a girl home, that's not the way to go about healthy relationships. You need to step back.' Nate Parker you girl self home Identify your niche and dominate it. And when I say dominate, I just mean work harder than anyone else could possibly work at it. Nate Parker your say just work We all serve a purpose. My purpose isn't to be rejected. My purpose isn't to think small or to be introverted. This door closed is literally pushing me to the next door. Nate Parker door think me purpose The American dream is more about opportunity than anything else. Nate Parker more american-dream dream opportunity Leadership is one of the things I really strive to excel in in my life. Nate Parker my-life things leadership life I coach a high school wrestling team and a middle school team. I consider myself a coach and an activist, so I'm really involved in the community. Nate Parker myself community team school I'm a big Hall and Oates fan. Nate Parker hall fan big I just feel like if I really believe what Dr. King said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,' then I should be compelled to use my God-given platform to effect change. Nate Parker king change justice believe We have a tendency to sugar coat the Civil Rights movement by showing arm in arm and everyone singing 'Kumbaya'. We don't really always show the resistance from the government, the resistance from the status quo, from the majority to silence the movement. Nate Parker always singing government silence When I was young, to have a big nose, big lips or dark skin was the worst. You were the wretched. That was something I not only felt, but I participated in. Nate Parker skin you lips dark Sadly, black people disassociate ourselves from the things which make us who we are, identifying them as lesser, or inferior. It's a form of self hate. So, with reckless abandon, we strive to be like the majority. Nate Parker black hate self people Let me be the first to say I can't remember ever having a conversation about the definition of consent when I was a kid. I knew that 'no' meant 'no,' but that's it. Nate Parker say me conversation remember All I can do is seek the information that'll make me stronger, that'll help me overcome my toxic masculinity, my male privilege, because that's something you never think about. You don't think about other people. Nate Parker think me you people I was very insecure approaching the idea of directing a feature film. I told myself I would not move until I felt I was moving in power rather than moving in desperation to make a movie. Nate Parker myself desperation power moving I do believe, as a person of color, the disparities are great. A lot of the roles that were sent to me were 'Gangbanger No. 1.' And when a role did come up that I felt carried and represented my community in the best ways, I wasn't the only one that knew it existed. So I'd have to compete. Nate Parker best great me community I'm a perfectionist to a fault. Nate Parker fault perfectionist You don't choose who you sit next to in a theater. You sit in a theater, and there's an energy that happens. Nate Parker choose sit you energy
