There is no ESCAPE - we PAY for the VIOLENCE of our ANCESTORS.

I am profoundly FASCINATED by cruelty, FEAR, horror and DEATH. My films show my preoccupation with violence, the pathology of violence.

From pacifist to terrorist, each person CONDEMNS VIOLENCE - and then adds one cherished case in which it MAY be justified.

The same WAY that RACISM is a white person's problem, violence against WOMEN is a MEN's problem.

In VIOLENCE, we FORGET who we are.

We've NEVER advocated VIOLENCE; violence is inflicted upon US. But we do believe in SELF-DEFENSE for ourselves and for black people.

It is violence when we use a sharp word, when we MAKE a GESTURE to BRUSH away a PERSON. So violence isn't merely ORGANIZED butchery in the name of God, in the name of society or country. Violence is much more subtle, much deeper.

What do we KNOW to be TRUE about GANG violence? We know we will fail if we fixate on the symptoms and not ADDRESS what undergirds it.

It's so WEIRD that I play this WOMAN who pretty much DEALS with VIOLENCE on a daily basis, and I'm such a wimp in who I am.

Find something you really love doing and MIX it with something you really CARE about. That's why I've had such longevity as an artist. I really, really care about ending VIOLENCE against women, and I really, really love playing music. It's super ENJOYABLE!

My MOM told US never to reveal that we were Shia in SCHOOL. You would find out that some other kid was Shiite, and you would whisper, 'Hey,' or you would see someone at the mosque, and you'd be LIKE, 'Hey, that kid's Shiite!' There was a lot of tension, a lot of violence in Karachi between Shiites and Sunnis.

An UNJUST LAW is itself a SPECIES of VIOLENCE. ARREST for its breach is more so.

Violence only perpetrates more violence, and it becomes a VICIOUS cycle. There are political situations all over the world where there are UNTOLD ACTS of REVENGE for incidences, and thousands and thousands of lives are LOST because of them.

Here we will solve with laws and dollars, problems that too MANY people around the world still MUST solve with violence and civil WAR.