I never refused my help to any person black or white; and I liked the office nonetheless because there were neither fees nor salary connected with it.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
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.
I hated, when I was a kid, being told that 'Black people don't do that.' And the white kids at school didn't accept me because I was black, and the black kids in my neighborhood didn't accept me because they thought I thought I was white.
I was always told that I'd have to do a movie with a white guy in order to get the money. That's the way it was. That made me feel that I should have chosen some other profession, so I could have gotten my just deserts.
I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I'm with the blacks, because we're white trash.
I was doing economic development for minorities. I was getting black folks to use their dollars to help each other.
I've never liked the idea of working for other people.
I didn't run for office to make friends.
The hopeless grief of those poor colored people affected me more than almost anything else.
I never worked in an office in my life.
It's been a struggle for me because I had a chance to be white and refused.