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" Like anyone else in television, I like to explore my life experience. And I don't think African-American artists see doing shows or art about African-Americans as something 'less than.' I think maybe the industry sometimes does. We don't get as much attention, we don't get critical acclaim and so on. "

Salim Akil

Experience

Art

Think

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" As an artist, I write and I do what I know and what creatively comes out of me, and I think that other artists should do the same thing. "

" I was determined to make a movie - about families and a love story - that black women would be proud to see and which would depict them as being smart, loving, sensitive, sexy, and funny. "

" Michael Schultz's 'Cooley High' is a classic. Oftentimes, we don't get to see films about coming of age, especially for young African Americans. "

" I remember, as a kid, wearing the Batman costume for Halloween and feeling empowered by that as a kid. "

" I grew up, I had three uncles and... I loved Uncle Donald because he gave me dating advice, and I was, like, 5. But the other thing that I found fascinating about my Uncle Donald is he dressed up like a woman. And so I grew up around all of these men who dressed like women, so when I hear that, I don't hear a cause. I hear my family. "

" Nina Simone, to me, singing about black culture - she's unparalleled. "

Salim Akil

Black

Singing

" To me, Jefferson Pierce represented every side of me. I knew that I would be able to flesh him out. "

" No matter how happy and peaceful you can be at a certain time, you always have this - at least, I do - paranoia or catastrophic thought that even now that I have all this peace and quiet, what's the next challenge? What's coming next? On a very human level, I think most people can identify with that. "

" Black Lightning, Jefferson Pierce, Thunder, and Lightning deserve their own show because they are not 'the other.' They are legitimate superheroes in their own right, and so they deserve the full breadth of exploration. That's what makes them worthy, and that's why they deserve it. They are not 'the other.' They are 'the the.' "

" There are so many families who do not come up in a traditional household. African Americans, Latins, and, I'm sure, whites as well, but there are a lot of men missing in African American communities and in Latin communities. "

Salim Akil

Come

Well

" I tell my children, some people can be more talented than you. Some people can be faster, stronger, but there is never a reason for anyone to outwork you. "

" My wife asked me to marry her. But we did not jump the broom. "

Salim Akil

Jump

Wife

" I thought I was an actor until they pointed the camera at me. "

Salim Akil

Actor

Camera

" If I'm walking down the street or taking my kids trick-or-treating, and I see some young girls or boys who are dressed up like Black Lightning, that, to me, would be success. "

Salim Akil

Black

See

" In popular culture, there is this notion that African-American men and women can't get together, and we're having these issues. I think it's an American problem because I know a lot of white women and men who are having just as many issues trying to find 'that person' as anyone. "

" I always approach storytelling with the idea that the audience will get it. They understand almost better than we do, because they get to watch it from an entirely different perspective with new eyes. "

" When you're young, taking a risk doesn't necessarily feel like a risk because you're young. "

" There are so many slices to the African-American experience. I mean, I have the whole ghetto pedigree. My mom was in jail, I didn't have any money, and I didn't go to a fancy college. But that's not the type of story I want to tell or feel the need to tell on film. "

" If anyone sees anything in 'Black Lightning' that seems foreign to them, then they haven't been paying attention. This is a uniquely American experience. "

" I never saw a true representation - an iconic hero - for myself. It just got boring, reading about all these really powerful and heroic white guys. "

" In this larger conversation about diversity, we want to really show that we're all the same. We are all experiencing the same stories. "