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. – Anna Deavere Smith
We owe the government taxes. We owe our creditors interest. What do these powers owe us? – Anna Deavere Smith
I am interested in personal stories because that’s when people become expressive, spontaneous and heartfelt. – 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? – Anna Deavere Smith
I remember from my father’s funeral that the minister kept using a metaphor about life of a prism. And I took that away like a cherished image. – 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. – Anna Deavere Smith
Listening is not just hearing what someone tells you word for word. You have to listen with a heart. I don’t want that to sound touchy-feely; it is not. It is very hard work. – Anna Deavere Smith
Many people are afraid to talk about race because it’s so emotionally loaded. We don’t have the vocabulary to talk about it. Every day, our vocabulary seems more and more inadequate. – Anna Deavere Smith
I never know when somebody’s going to knock on the door of my own unconscious in a way that I wouldn’t have anticipated. – Anna Deavere Smith
What my work is, is my approach to it. It’s the practice. And my work is about the effort that I make to get there. And I think if there’s anything artistic, it’s in that middle space. – Anna Deavere Smith
Because of the generation in which I came into the world, there were expectations. Of course there were expectations. It was something having to do with being a respectable Negro woman who would make the people in Baltimore proud. – Anna Deavere Smith
I mean, I think a healthy country is a country where people are healthy physically, and a smart country is a country where people are educated. – Anna Deavere Smith
President Obama called for a ‘we’ nation in his Inauguration Address. Art convenes. It is not just inspirational. It is aspirational. It pricks the walls of our compartmentalized minds, opens our hearts and makes us brave. And that’s what we need most in our country today. – 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. – Anna Deavere Smith
When you think about it, words can break your heart, or they can change your day. – 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. – Anna Deavere Smith
I was a mimic when I was a child. I mimicked the teacher and made friends that way, actually. That was a very subversive activity, because I was a goody-goody who never got in trouble. But if I went off in the corner and mimicked the teacher, people loved it. – Anna Deavere Smith
I’m interested when things are upside down – because there are so many possibilities in that one moment. There is a lot that is exposed. – Anna Deavere Smith
In my profession, I’m around a lot of people whose bodies are their instruments in one way or another. – Anna Deavere Smith
Movies, as evidenced by a chorus of protesting and celebrating Americans, influence broader trends. – 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. – Anna Deavere Smith
