“There were class differences among black people then and there are class differences among black people now. There is still an assumption among many people in American society that being black is its own class, a blanket class. That, I believe, is an erroneous and deeply offensive view.” PeopleBelieveI BelieveBlackAssumptionBlack PeopleOffensiveBlanket Author:Ayana Mathis
“There is a forgotten black middle class in America - a group which is huge but underrepresented in the media and in art. It's difficult to talk about these things, because it forces one to talk in generalities, but that's my view. I do think the idea of a blanket class for black people is unfortunately still present.” PeopleThinkingArtDifficultBlackForgottenMiddle ClassBlack PeopleBlanket Author:Ayana Mathis
“There is still an assumption among many people that to be black is to be lower class. In the last fifteen to twenty years, perhaps even further back than that, there's also been an explosion of a very wealthy black class in the United States, but those people are often treated as special cases: they're athletes, entertainers. Jay-Z. Basketball players. The country metabolizes the fact these rich black people exist, but it seems only to reinforce the idea that every other black person is limping along in poverty.” PeopleCountryBlackPovertyRichPlayerSpecialBasketballAthleteAssumptionWealthyBlack PeopleBasketball Player Author:Ayana Mathis
“I think a lot about race and the burdens of representation. There's an idea that because I'm writing a book set around the time of the Great Migration, and happen to be black, I'm trying to write a definitive account of the Great Migration, the so-called "black experience." That's not what I'm doing, and it can be frustrating.” ThinkingWritingTryingBookBlackBurdenRepresentationFrustratingWriting A Book Author:Ayana Mathis
“If there had never been the Great Migration there would never have been jazz, there would never have been Michelle Obama. A lot of amazing black people exist in this country because of the Great Migration. That's nation-building.” PeopleCountryBlackJazzBlack People Author:Ayana Mathis
“Racial terrorism affects the lives of white people and black people and everyone, everything. Racism is contaminating. It can affect the dogs in the street. So the process of beginning to rid the country of prejudice was in itself a kind of nation-building.” PeopleKindCountryBlackDogRacismPrejudiceTerrorismBlack People Author:Ayana Mathis
“My book has a pre - civil rights setting with a post - civil rights sensibility. I believe less and less that there is something called "The Black Experience," though undoubtedly there was one once.” BelieveBookI BelieveBlackCivil RightsSensibility Author:Ayana Mathis
“There's a stereotype that to be a strong black woman is to be strong about being black.” StrongBlackStereotypeBlack Women Author:Ayana Mathis
“In America, and no doubt elsewhere, we have such a tendency toward the segregation of cultural products. This is a black book, this is a gay book, this is an Asian book. It can be counterproductive both to the literary enterprise and to people's reading, because it can set up barriers. Readers may think, "Oh, I'm a straight man from Atlanta and I'm white, so I won't enjoy that book because it's by a gay black woman in Brooklyn." They're encouraged to think that, in a way, because of the categorization in the media.” ThinkingMenBookReadingEnjoyBlackDoubtGayEnterpriseBarriersElsewhereBlack WomenSegregation Author:Ayana Mathis