Every progressive movement in U.S. history has been portrayed negatively by the media at the time it happened. — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
I listen to everything from The Cure and The Clash to Prince and George Clinton. — Boots Riley Clash Copy Share Image
If we created a society based on love, it would be a society without exploitation. — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
I chose to do art in the way I always do it, which is with all the crazy contradictions of life in… — Boots Riley Art Copy Share Image
Rarely, someone comes around that is influenced by so many things but is looking for a new way to do something. — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
A lot of what we say and do are regurgitated things that have to do with what we think we're supposed to… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
Many people feel that unions aren't militant enough for them and don't do anything. — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
A lot of organizers tell me that while they are making signs or doing whatever they do, they are listening to the… — Boots Riley Coup Copy Share Image
A lot of libertarians and ultra-capitalists like to put out this idea that competition makes for better creativity. But it's just because… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
I want to fight the McCarthyist state that's developing in this country so my kids won't live in a world where people… — Boots Riley Country Copy Share Image
I've gotten stopped for reckless eyeballing, for staring too hard. These officers think they're Tarzan and this is a jungle, that all… — Boots Riley Animals Copy Share Image
In Chile, they had penas, where the community would come together to sing and plan how they were going to overthrow the… — Boots Riley Community Copy Share Image
Art can end up answering questions or asking questions. But when it's not connected to actual movements, it doesn't ask the right… — Boots Riley Art Copy Share Image
You can't get much done by yourself. Speaking as someone who made a movie - and it took hundreds of people to… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
When I was five years old, me and my cousin got into a fistfight because when "That's the Way (I Like It)"… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
My training was with some old British communists who had organized unions in the '60s and '70s. And their philosophy was, if… — Boots Riley Communists Copy Share Image
The album 'Party Music' is a beautiful album, and people need to hear it. — Boots Riley Beautiful Copy Share Image
I think it's important for us not just to edit the culture that capitalism creates but to create the material basis for… — Boots Riley Capitalism Copy Share Image
I just look at music as a retreat from organizing. It's like a tug-of-war with me. Music can be effective, but it's… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
People want things that address their everyday reality, and that goes for stuff that isn't political - with singer-songwriter music, people want… — Boots Riley Music Copy Share Image
What I'm trying to do is make music that people relate to, that talks about ideas that are personal but also make… — Boots Riley Audience Copy Share Image
Going to school in San Francisco, you're not going to meet as many people that are making films as you would if… — Boots Riley Cinema Copy Share Image
I want my music to be not only representative of other people's lives but also contributing something to the struggle that people… — Boots Riley Music Copy Share Image
The Box would not play 'Takin' These' because we had a scene where we were taking furniture out of Rockefeller's mansion and… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
I can run the gamut with beats that no one else would think of. I'm not a trained musician, so I focus… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
I'd been working since I was eleven so I could buy my own comic books. I was that kid knocking on your… — Boots Riley Comic Copy Share Image
We're told, 'If you want to change the world, vote.' And really, if you want to change the world, there's a lot… — Boots Riley Change Copy Share Image
What first got me involved in politics was being 14, and a youth organizer comes to my house with a van full… — Boots Riley Beach Copy Share Image
My father joined the NAACP when he was 12, in the '50s. He was part of the organizing efforts that led to… — Boots Riley Father Copy Share Image
I lived in Detroit until I was six. My older sister was living with us, and she listened to the Ohio Players… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
I think art is communication. To that extent, it can be the words between the words. It has a possibility of communicating… — Boots Riley Art Copy Share Image
I was born in Chicago. I moved to Detroit until I was six and moved to Oakland at that point. And then… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
I have a problem with superheroes in general because, politically, superheroes are cops. Superheroes work with the government to uphold the law.… — Boots Riley Comic Copy Share Image
It's nice to be recognized for what you do, but that doesn't satisfy what I wanted out of this music, which is… — Boots Riley Music Copy Share Image
I had no idea how much the stuff I was doing was affecting people outside Oakland. At the time, also, hip hop… — Boots Riley Copy Share Image
You make art, you make it from what you know, and that's the best way to make art. You get lost in… — Boots Riley Art Copy Share Image
The folks that are suggesting Occupy move to electoral politics are ignoring history, ignoring what actually creates change. People get involved in… — Boots Riley Change Copy Share Image
If what you want is actual change, then what has to be built is a mass movement that is militant and can… — Boots Riley Action Copy Share Image
In reality, I know I'm not hurt directly by sexism; however, my life is made less because of it, so I started… — Boots Riley Fallouts Copy Share Image
If you tell a story that's only allegory, then it doesn't help you at all. If it doesn't bring some emotional charge,… — Boots Riley Allegory Copy Share Image
