Movies, as evidenced by a chorus of protesting and celebrating Americans, influence broader trends.

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.

I think as a kid I always liked to listen to people. I loved hearing stories.

If you say a word often enough it becomes you.

We spend so much time bantering about the words when the real open conversations might very well be our actions. I worry about our rhetoric.

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.

We who are in the arts are at the risk of being in a popularity contest rather than a profession. If that fact causes you despair . . . pick another profession. Your desire to communicate must be bigger than your relationship with the chaotic and unfair realities . . . We have to create our own standards of discipline.