Daily Inspiration Quote by Eartha Kitt

Eartha Kitt is doing something sly here: she sells you the fantasy of a stage where identity doesn’t matter, while quietly reminding you exactly how much it does.

On the surface, the line plays like a clean artist’s plea: judge me by the work. “Entertainers” becomes a passport, a role that supposedly suspends the usual sorting by race, sexuality, or religion. The list is deliberately blunt and a little comic - “pink, or green” - an eye-roll at the absurdity of classification itself. It’s a performer’s cadence: quick, rhythmic, designed to land with an audience that wants reassurance more than confrontation.

The subtext, though, is sharper. Kitt knew that entertainment is one of the few spaces where America has historically welcomed Black artists - provided they stay legible, pleasing, and politically safe. The phrase “not because we are” carries the pressure of having to preempt the audience’s suspicion: that a Black woman’s presence must be justified, explained, or framed as “a statement.” In that sense, she’s pointing to a bargain: you can be on the stage, but the price is pretending your identity isn’t part of the transaction.

Context matters because Kitt’s career was shaped by both adoration and punishment, especially after she spoke out against the Vietnam War and was effectively blacklisted. So this isn’t naive colorblindness; it’s a veteran’s diagnosis of how visibility works. Entertainment can momentarily erase categories - until the performer steps off-script.