Did not talk to people, they instead talked at people,
But racism is about the power of a group and in America it’s white folks who have that power. How? Well, white folks don’t get treated like shit in upper-class African-American communities and white f...
Blog brought Blaine back into her life. At the Blogging While
Am angry. We should all be angry. Anger has a long history of bringing about positive change. In addition to anger, I am also hopeful, because I believe deeply in the ability of human beings to remake...
All understood the fleeing from war, from the kind of poverty that crushed human souls, but they would not understand the need to escape from the oppressive lethargy of choicelessness. They would not...
About what boys think of them. But the reverse is not the case. We don’t teach boys to care about being likeable. We spend too much time telling girls that they cannot be angry or aggressive or tough,...
A clear link between education and dignity, between the hard, obvious things that are printed in books and the soft, subtle things that lodge themselves into the soul.
Your feminist premise should be: I matter. I matter equally.
You wanted to feel disdain, to show it as you brought his order, because white people who liked Africa too much and those who liked Africa too little were the same—condescending.
You see, in American pop culture, beautiful dark women are invisible. (The other group just as invisible is Asian men. But at least they get to be super smart.) In movies, dark black women get to be t...
You must nod back when a black person nods at you in a heavily white area. It is called the black nod. It is a way for black people to say You are not alone, I am here too.
You must never behave as if your life belongs to a man. Do you hear me? Aunty Ifeka said. Your life belongs to you and you alone, soso gi.
You make me shy, he said.Are you serious? Because you make me shy.I don't believe anything makes you shy, he said.
You know, you’re a feminist. It was not a compliment. I could tell from his tone—the same tone with which a person would say, You’re a supporter of terrorism.
You know, we live in an ass-licking economy. The biggest problem in this country is not corruption. The problem is that there are many qualified people who are not where they are supposed to be becaus...
You know, like race is a brew best served mild, tempered with other liquids, otherwise white folk can’t swallow it.
Yet such men do not need to imagine a male victim of crime as a brother or son in order to feel empathy.
Yes, but I’m worried I will leave grad school and no longer be able to speak English. I know this woman in grad school, a friend of a friend, and just listening to her talk is scary. The semiotic dial...
With him, she was at ease; her skin felt as though it was her right size.
With him, she felt breakable, precious.