Quotes from Yolanda King

Somebody has always wanted me to speak as a voice of black America, but it has dawned on me that I can only speak for myself.

The best sermons are those that are lived.

When you say 'the man of the house,' the black woman has been the woman and the man of the house, because black men have so often had to spend all of their time and energy working and trying, at least, to give their families the basic needs. So black women, I find, are not really concerned about women's liberation.

By the time I was 12, I had decided to be an artist.

We must celebrate difference until difference doesn't make a difference in the way we treat each other.

Obviously, since 9/11, here in this country there has been a resurgence of fear and people feeling distrustful of other people that are different. And what we chose to do was to focus on people coming together, working across those barriers of race, of culture, of religion, and really finding a heart connection.

My mother supported me from the beginning and never said you should be an activist or civil rights leader or minister.

To do peace, you must get up off your apathy.

I was watching the news that day when the bulletin came on that my father had been shot. I prayed. I asked God, 'Please don't let my daddy die.'

My father was not really pleased when I told him of my choice to train as an actress, when he was with us in this dimension.

I am an artist with very strong social and political concerns.

Do you know what I think of when I remember him? I think: He was such a kid. He taught me how to swim when I was 4 and how to ride a bike. So when I think of Martin Luther King, I think of laughter. I think of the play and the fun.

What we need to do is learn to respect and embrace our differences until our differences don't make a difference in how we are treated.

I feel that I'm very much in touch with my father's spirit and presence. I feel it, sense it and take much energy and inspiration from that.

I know that no matter what is said about Martin the King Jr., what he contributed, what he gave, what he meant, what he means all over this planet cannot be tarnished.

At 16, I went to Smith College in Massachusetts and that was right after the peak of the civil-rights movement and all the rest. It was an era when students were making demands and many black students were closer to the teachings of Malcolm X, or what they thought were his teachings.

A feeling of self worth is the best accomplishment we can foster in our prisons.

Given my belief that there is a divine purpose for my father's life on this planet, given the way I was raised, it's real hard to get angry. I get that from my daddy.

I try to understand people who do violence. I try to understand what they are feeling and experiencing.

As an artist and as a Black woman coming out of a background that emphasizes service, there are certain responsibilities that I must assume. I see these responsibilities not as a burden, but as an extension of what I am.

My friends... feel there are not that many people they can really look up to. They feel people are so hypocritical and fake... But I do have some people I respect, a great number of people, and I'm sure my friends have.

I tease sometimes and say that the King holiday is a 20th-century miracle. Reagan even signed it, and he was completely opposed to the idea.

This is one of my favorite things to do, working with a symphonic accompaniment, because I don't sing - and this is as close as I will come to singing.

What just resonates with me so strongly is my whole spirituality and the fact that we are, my belief that we are spiritual beings having a human experience.