It was an all-white church. It was starting to decline. They had to hire a new pastor, and they hired him. But he came under the condition that "I want and I'm called to make this a multiethnic church." So… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I meet almost no one that goes to an African-American church or thinks, "I'm going to do that." Now there are whites in African-American churches. They're interracially married. They're highly committed. Maybe there's a professor or two, or a student. — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
It may be changing, but still it's the one place, that total control of an institution, that African Americans have. So sometimes, you know,… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
Call-and-response style, yes, exactly. So whenever different groups get together then there has to be this long period of negotiation. How will we worship?… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I think people respond to villains because people in general are more villainous than heroic. — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
So you find a lot of these sixth Americans congregate in these interracial congregations. They hang out together at work, at school, wherever. — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
There are roles that are terrifying because they're large or you may feel that they're out of your line, but I'm never terrified once… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
We do not have an American culture. We have a white American culture and a black American culture. So when those two groups try… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I think of myself as a problem-solver. I want to go in and help the director and the writer to get the best they… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
But what we found in the study is that churches are ten times less diverse than the neighborhoods they sit in. So there's something… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
And different traditions stress different - so then there's that. I talked to an African American who says before she goes into an interracial… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I think it's easier, I really do, because of not having that similar history, so that's why I think two-thirds of these mixed congregations… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
There are three things, and it depends on the group that we're talking about, but there's history, there's culture, and then there's social networks.… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I ask the clergy why don't I see myself represented in leadership? And I'm told, and this happens quite a bit, "We don't think… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
![“We do not have an American culture. We have a white American culture and a black American culture. So when those two groups try to get together, [it's] very difficult because they each feel like they have the right to their culture.” quote by Michael Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/df1/michael-emerson-4622_american-culture_we-do-not-have-an-american-culture-we-ha_147976.jpg)
