Boots Riley

Oakland has always had artists attempting to define the immense beauty and ridiculousness around them. ”

The folks that are suggesting Occupy move to electoral politics are ignoring history, ignoring what actually creates change. People get involved in electoral politics because they think there is no movement that can create change. ”

We're told, 'If you want to change the world, vote.' And really, if you want to change the world, there's a lot more things that you can do. ”

If the only time you bang the drum is when it's time to get someone elected, and you don't get involved in a mass movement, then you're working against real and substantive change. ”

I was born in Chicago. I moved to Detroit until I was six and moved to Oakland at that point. And then we had a couple years in Stockton and Pasadena. And by the time I was 13, I was back in Oakland. ”

The tech world is not a new phenomenon; it's a new era. ”

The ultimate credo of capitalism is to exploit people. It's not like this is just an incidental problem; it's inherent in the system. ”

Every progressive movement in U.S. history has been portrayed negatively by the media at the time it happened. ”

I was in an organization called Progressive Labor Party and International Committee Against Racism. And I was - I started out helping to organize a farm workers' union in Central California. ”

A lot of libertarians and ultra-capitalists like to put out this idea that competition makes for better creativity. But it's just because we don't see all the creativity that's been crushed. ”