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" We use the word 'urban' to mean black or Latino, but that's not what the word means. It actually means 'from the city.' I'm not from the city. I'm from the suburbs of Connecticut. I grew up with mostly all white people. "

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" Comedians are on the road so much that when they're just getting to act and sit in one place, they're really grateful and just ready. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Sit

Grateful

Road

" There's this idea that you can have it all, but in my opinion, you can't - not if you're a perfectionist. "

" The Shawshank Redemption' isn't a movie about a black guy and a white guy who become friends - it's a movie about freedom. At the end, the cathartic experience of seeing our own emotions reflected back to us, that's the purpose of storytelling. "

" As a writer of fiction, you don't ever want to limit the characters you create to the life you've lived. That's insanity to me. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Life

Limit

" There are some aspects of the story of 'Power' that clearly are about race in the sense that any one of us now who's black and was raised in this country was raised with a lie, which is, 'You can never be president.' That's not true. "

" Great partnerships thrive because the people need each other. "

" When people watch 'Power' and they find out the showrunner is black, it's not surprising. What is surprising is that I am a woman and my background is not particularly urban. "

" When I first arrived in Los Angeles from New York in 2004 to try to break into television, I couldn't believe how segregated it was - how many neighborhoods were nearly all-white or all-black or -Asian or -Latino. "

" When I was pitching 'Power,' I had an executive say, 'Well, I already have a black show.' He said that right to my face. "

" I am not going to say that only people of color can write people of color, because that means only white people can write white people, and that's not OK. "

" When I watch television, I want to be surprised. "

" My dad was born with no money. "

" I don't write scenes where one person is right and one person is wrong. It's very much by design that everyone has a point of view that you as an audience member can understand. "

" The revolution is that we can be anything. We don't have to be one thing or the other. The idea that it is my responsibility to represent only good black people... I mean, what are you talking about? That's not a character - that's a polemic. "

" I remember watching episodes of 'The Sopranos' and being filled with dread knowing what was coming or anticipating what was coming. I don't think that that's always a bad thing. I think sometimes the audience needs a little catharsis held away from them. "

" Great power is setting a goal, working hard for it, and achieving it in exactly the way you expected with no consequences and no remainders after the long division is done. But does that happen to anyone? The unexpected always hitches a ride along with everything you planned. "

" My parents were 30 years older than I was, and my parents had my brother and I ten years apart. My parents grew up in segregation, and they both lived in all-black neighborhoods and grew up with large black families. I didn't have any of that, and I didn't understand feeling so differently and being treated so differently. "

" I really do love male characters, in some ways, for the fact that they get surprised when they're vulnerable. Women are more surprised by their strength. "

" You don't keep your job if you don't make a great show. "

" I want to be a strong voice, period. "

" If you look at the back pages of 'New York Times Magazine,' and they talk about these 6.5-million-dollar condos with a great view, like you're going to pay for a great view. Well, the top floor of the projects have a great view, too. "

" My dad was very, very invested in image. He felt that as a black person, the thing you could control was how did you look, how did you dress, how did you sound, how did you smell, how did you act. All of that stuff that you could control would absolutely have a strong impact on your access. "

" When human beings say they have power, it always makes me laugh a little bit. "

Courtney A. Kemp

Power

Always

" If you wanna be your own boss, you gotta work your way up - have the skills. "

" I am a black woman, and I'm proud of that, but as a showrunner, I want to think about what makes me unique beyond my race. "

" New York is the center of the world. I grew up in Connecticut, outside of the city, and my father commuted to the city for work. "

" I'd say it's far more challenging to be female and be a showrunner. People are not surprised to see a black person running this show, but the female aspect is the thing that I get asked about. "

" If you are other, you don't think twice about hiring people who are other. "

" I called my show 'Power' because, for me, the whole series is about the way my main character, Ghost, is power-less over his circumstances, even though he has almost endless access to money and guns. "

" I very much want to write about some elements of my own growing up. "