There's always that sense of because we're so racially defined, if you're trying to cross the boundaries you don't fit into any… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
If we go into white congregations, non-whites will sometimes say it felt like worship never started. It was sort of dead and… — 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… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
What sort of difficulties would happen when people of different cultures try to come together to worship? Tiny little things such as… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
That's a big fear, right, and when I talk with black pastors, the same thing: If we try to have this move… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
So we didn't get the denominations and the separate congregations really till about into Civil War time. What's happened then, of course,… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
So these are the kind of things that now when people are trying to move towards multiracial congregations that they're stressing. They're… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
And then they would have the shoe removers on one side, and the non-shoe removers on the other side until they could… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
So they actually put it into their mission statement, and they start changing things as a result. They may change how worship… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
I never meet a church that wishes they didn't do it. I never meet a leader that wishes they didn't do it.… — Michael Emerson Copy Share Image
Humor is so culturally based that when I try to tell a joke as me being a white American, if I tell… — 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
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
I think people respond to villains because people in general are more villainous than heroic. — Michael Emerson Copy Share
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
I was a magazine illustrator for many years before I became an actor, and I used to think, 'Oh, God, all those wasted years!'… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
We go where our family goes. We go where our friends are, and because our social networks are so segregated by race, we end… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
This is this thing I harp on: Sometimes acting can be a self-defeating psychological enterprise if we feel like we're desperate, if we feel… — Michael Emerson Copy Share
![“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/i/df1/michael-emerson-4622_american-culture_we-do-not-have-an-american-culture-we-ha_147976.jpg)
