1001+ quotes
One of the things that most irks me is the insistence of conservatives who proclaim over and over that we are post-race in America. As if the fact of repeating that lie over and over it would make it true. I found this book at a friend's office (she had several samples) and I just fucking knew I HAD to have it. So now one is sitting on my table and I went through it like there was no tomorrow. It did not disappoint. I am re-reading it right now and I strongly recommend you read it, too.
In this treasury of over 1,000 quotes, you will find -- in the voices of Langston Hughes and the Delany sisters, for example -- some of the bitter-sweet humor that has helped sustain blacks in this country through their long, oppressive history.
But, in the words of both blacks and whites, you will also find the stark contrast between the "incalculable" advantages of being born white and the "all-consuming" burden of being born black.
The quotes are fantastic and heartbreaking and they will also provide you with infinitely satisfying ways to shut down that racist MAGAt uncle/cousin/brother/idiot relative when politics come up during Thanksgiving. Two birds, one stone, right? So good. And here's some quotes to get you started:
"One America":"The greatest challenge we face is also our greatest opportunity. Can we fulfill the promise of America by embracing all our citizens of all races? Can we become one America in the 21st century? Money cannot buy this goal, power cannot compel it, technology cannot create it. This is something that can come only from the human spirit." [President Bill Clinton, 1997]
Talking and listening"Our truncated public discussions of race suppress the best of who and what we are as a people because they fail to confront the complexity of the issue in a candid and critical manner." [Cornel West, 1993]
Person to person"When people are forced to interact to survive, their prejudices diminish." [Muhammad Ali, 1996]
Racism is . . ."Race is for me a more onerous burden than AIDS. My disease is the result of biological factors over which we have had no control. Racism is entirely made by people, and therefore it hurts infinitely more." [Arthur Ashe, 1993]
The civil rights movement"Every single Negro who is worth his salt is going to resent any kind of slurs and discrimination because of his race. Talk about 'Communists stirring up Negroes to protest,' only makes present misunderstanding worse than ever. Negroes were stirred up long before there was a Communist Party, and they'll stay stirred up long after the Party has disappeared -- unless Jim Crow has disappeared by then as well." [Jackie Robinson, 1949]
One of my favs?
"The Southern way""An old black man in Atlanta looked into my eyes and directed me into my first segregated bus. His eyes seemed to say that what I was feeling he had been feeling, at much higher pressure, all his life. But my eyes would never see the hell his eyes had seen. And this hell was, simply, that he had never in his life owned anything, not his wife, not his house, not his child, which could not, at any instant, be taken from him by the power of white people. And for the rest of the time that I was in the South I watched the eyes of old black men." [James Baldwin, 1961]
Just food for thought.
XOXO
P.S. you can read the whole book here or download it here. Happy reading!
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You see yourself as a black man. I see myself as a man.
ReplyDeleteGuess who come to dinner
I wish I could see myself as a Black man, but I can't.
DeleteI am not Black. I do not know a Black man's struggle. I can only observe it.
XOXO
here at 2:00, the original of what I'm meaning
DeleteBig says,
DeleteI think Xersex was quoting one of Spencer Tracy's lines from the film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner." Fabulous film. Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, and Katherine Houghton (Kate's niece). XOXO
Duh.
DeleteThat last line was a dead giveaway. But he spoke in first person without quotations or context. I was like, oh, Xersex.
XOXO
America (and the world) is not post-ANYTHING.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely.
DeleteThe people who insist we are past anything related to gender, race or ethnicity are fools or snake oil peddlers.
XOXO
Racism has more to feeling you are more special than someone else, and it has been around for thousands and thousands of years. It might go away when the people of the world are all one color, though I doubt it.
ReplyDeleteIt's more than just thinking that you are more special: it's the dehumanization of people based on their perceived race or ethnicity. It's considering others less than you just because you are caucasian, for example. It's denying rights and personhood based on the superiority of your race.
DeleteAnd being around for thousands of years does not justify it.
XOXO
Big says,
ReplyDeleteRace and racism have been around since tribes discovered other tribes. It's why every nation in the world has experienced slavery; it is how every country developed: by segregating "the other." Ali's quote is true! XOXO
The idea that slavery has been around for centuries does not justify slavery or racism, per se. It was considered barbaric then and it's considered barbaric now.
DeleteThe idea that the development of countries is based on the slavery of others is not new (it happened in the United States) but negating that slavery is the basis of the prosperity of this country is racist at its core.
And Ali's quote is what the Repugs fights tooth and nail.
XOXO
That Arthur Ashe quote. Yes, that's it. And I disagree with Dave. I think racism has to do with people thinking others are less than, not that you are better. Small difference, but a difference.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? Racism is a fucked up, made up concept used to justify atrocities the world over. And I also disagree with Dave. Big difference, I'd say.
ReplyDeleteXOXO