I told them [the producers] I couldn’t compound the lie that Black fathers don’t care about their children. I was proud of the family life I was able to introduce to television.

I don’t play Hollywood maids, the hee-hee kind of people who are so in love with their madam‘s children they have no time for their own.

My mother grew up with each of her children – whatever your age, that’s the age she‘d be when she listened to your stories. She never belittled our problems. It made for something permanent and reliable.

I ruffle a lot of feathers. And I’m also selective – that makes you a troublemaker. But so be it. I laid a cornerstone for black actors, and that makes me happy.

We feel we have to put concrete on every inch of land. It disturbs the ecology, and it takes away the experience of a child going out into the woods and seeing all of nature.