3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith Racism has been for everyone like a horrible, tragic car crash, and we’ve all been heavily sedated from it. If we don’t come into consciousness of this tragedy, there’s going to be a violent awakening we don’t want. The question is, can we wake up?
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith People who are sick, or who have been sick, or have come close to death have a lot to say – and they want you to hear it.
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith I think we need leadership that helps us remember that part of what we are about is caring about more than the person right next to us, but the folks across the way.
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith Somehow we can’t live outside the politics of race. There’s something very deep in all of us, that is taught to us when we are very, very little. Which is the disrespect and fear of the other.
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith The American idea is as promising, imaginative, and full of the unexpected as the land itself. The land represents freedom – the frontier, the ability to make a new future with your own bare hands.
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith I feel like my work has been my path to freedom from having grown up in a segregated environment.
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith To live your life well, and have respect for what came before or after – there’s a strong respect for that in African culture.
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith Movies, as evidenced by a chorus of protesting and celebrating Americans, influence broader trends.
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith My main concern is theater, and theater does not reflect or mirror society. It has been stingy and selfish, and it has to do better.
3 December 2020 Anna Deavere Smith I think it’s really important to give yourself a very big question that you’re working on that you can come home to, even if you, you know, are going to have to go without a cup of coffee or even a meal, that that should nourish you.
