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There haven't been enough profound things written about what being black means and what a black character is. Nobody knows.

I think that black fiction authors have to work very hard to avoid being typed as seeking only a black audience.

We're always trailing, as far as the amount of roles that are written for us and the films that are being made that have black characters in them. I don't know if that's going to change.

Somehow, I realized I could write books about black characters who reflected my own experiences or otherworldly experiences - not just stories of history, poverty and oppression.

At one time if you were a black writer you had to be one of the best writers in the world to be published. You had to be great. Now you can be good. Mediocre. And that's good.

I've always gotten a positive reaction to doing African-American characters.

It infuriates me that the work of white American writers can be universal and lay claim to classic texts, while black and female authors are ghetto-ized as 'other.'

I always look at things half full and definitely see a change in how things are going as far as black actresses and their opportunities.

I think the whole stigma of 'black movies' is slowly being lost. When you look at movies like '12 Years A Slave,' to 'The Butler,' to 'The Best Man,' to 'Ride Along,' to even 'Think Like a Man' from last year - these movies are just good movies.

I tend to play characters that aren't supposed to black or written black.