“Stories teach us empathy. They reveal to us ourselves in the skins of ...” — Justin Simien Quote

Stories teach us empathy. They reveal to us ourselves in the skins of others.

Daring to make films of any kind and thus invite the possibility of ridicule was an internal battle of mine for many years as I worked on the screenplay for what would become 'Dear White People' beginning at the end of George W. Bush's second term.

Everybody else was quoting 2Pac, and I was running around with Green Day in my Walkman. Racially speaking, I wasn't cool or appropriate for any group.

'Color-blind' comes up - people say 'Oh, I'm color-blind and therefore can't be accused of racism,' but I think that if we are going to have an honest dialogue about racism, we have to admit that people of color are having a different experience.

It's - you know, acting's all about relatability and finding empathy for a character, which is essentially, kind of, you're finding empathy with a part of yourself, which is a part of a character that was written by someone else, which was essentially kind of a part of them as well because it was a voice in their head they wrote down.

The rage of someone who continues to strive so hard and work so hard but is interrupted every day by society, by racism, by white supremacy, by the patriarchy - how can you not feel empathy?

I tend to side with people who are considered the underdog. I have empathy.

Character robotics could plant the seed for robots that actually have empathy. So, if they achieve human level intelligence or, quite possibly, greater than human levels of intelligence, this could be the seeds of hope for our future.