“If hot red is for anger and rage, pink is the color of a soft burning – hot enough to light up the dark corners of sadness and grief, but cool enough to be tender, innocent, open.” GriefSadnessRedInnocenceTenderPink Book:American Street Source: American Street
“Change filled the air when the people stood one behind the other on lines as long as history to cast their vote, this precious note placed on ballots.” ChangeVotingAfrican AmericansBlacksBlack HistoryElectionsVoting RightsAfrican American HistoryEnfranchisement Book:The People Remember Source: The People Remember
“A new president, Barack Obama, claimed a seat, the most powerful in all the land. He demanded change and took a stand with Michelle, Sasha, and Malia by his side. They were their ancestors' dreams, the people's pride.” ChangeAfrican AmericansBlacksBlack HistoryPresidentsAfrican American HistoryBarack ObamaObamas Book:The People Remember Source: The People Remember
“Every book is a different hood, a different country, a different world. Reading is how I visit places and people and ideas. And when something rings true or if I still have a question, I outline it with a bright yellow highlighter so that it’s lit up in my mind, like a lightbulb or a torch leading the way to somewhere new.” ReadingBooks Book:Pride Source: Pride
“Late June in Brooklyn is like the very beginning of a party-when the music is really good, but you know that it's about to get way better, so you just do a little two-step before the real turn-up starts.” MusicSummerAnticipationBrooklyn Book:Pride Source: Pride
“But then I realize that everyone is climbing their own mountain here in America. They are tall and mighty and they live in the hearts and everyday lives of the people.” AmericaAmerican Dream Book:American Street Source: American Street
“But the people remember that it happens again and again. A boy and his toy; a teenager on the phone; friends coming home from a party; a girl asking for the right way-- their breath and their light taken in just one shot. But the people still remember that with each rising sun is a new day. With each new year is a new dream; a new seed of hope unearthed, dusted, and polished. The people know that there will be a time of peace.” HopePeaceRacismMurderAfrican AmericansBlacksBlack HistoryPolice BrutalityAfrican American History Book:The People Remember Source: The People Remember
“The story that I thought was this life didn't start on the day I went to that park The story that I think will be my life starts today Anything that happened before today is only the prequel the backstory the story behind the story Nothing before today matters” StoriesCriminal JusticeBackstory Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“We have more space and less time. And the love we had for our whole neighborhood now only fits into this wood-frame house in the middle of a quiet block. We don't know the people who live across the street or on either side of us.” MovingCommunityNeighborhoodGentrification Book:Pride Source: Pride
“They call it free time and it's the biggest lie because we are still here” PrisonCriminal JusticeFree TimePrison Reform Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“Blind Justice II All because we were in the wrong place we were in the wrong skins we were in the wrong time we were in the wrong bodies we were in the wrong country we were in the wrong were in the wrong in the wrong the wrong wrong All because they were in the right place they were in the right skins they were in the right time they were in the right bodies they were” Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice SystemRacial JusticeRacial Injustice Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“and soon there was this invisible line we couldn't cross like we can't go where the nice places are Can't touch the nice things because everything about us our skin, our faces, our hair, our words, our music will break things will ruin things will make things ugly just by us being there But those white boys didn't care about no lines The world belonged to them including our hood” Racial JusticeRacial Injustice Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“Umi didn’t know that I had cut school to visit the art museum downtown I had cut school to sit in the park on a bench with my sketch pad drawing trees and leaves and sky and birds just to get my skills up just to understand the rules of line and texture and shading and black and white Just so I can break those rules And I didn’t need Ms. Rinaldi to tell me that I wasn’t advanced or I didn’t have history” Own VoicesPrison Abolition Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“They believed those lies about me and made themselves a whole other boy in their minds and replaced me with him” Justice SystemRacial Injustice Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“Eyes watching through filtered screens seeing every lie, reading every made-up word like a black hoodie counts as a mask like some shit I do with my fingers counts as gang signs like a few fights counts as uncontrollable rage like failing three classes counts as being dumb as fuck like everything that I am, that I've ever been counts as being guilty” Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice SystemRacial InjusticeCriminal Justice Reform Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“Saying down with the blacks but uplift the white race Raising the banner to the sun in haste Mobbed deep, hoods and capes Sun-dried and bloodstained Saying down with the blacks but uplift the white race Unjustly tried an indelible conviction the usual result of five shades of darker skin Justice unjust, black robes and pale face Didn't have a chance, they called us apes I wish I would have known the false smiles Evil intentions fulfilling their taste Why me? Why us? Justice unjust, black robes and pale faces?” Criminal JusticeRacial DiscriminationCriminal Justice SystemRacial Injustice Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“because where I come from jail or death were the two options she handed to us because where he came from the American Dream was the one option she handed to them So here we are, blind Lady Justice I see you, too” JusticeRacial InequalityLady Justice Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“And we stepped onto the tipping scales of Lady Justice with her eyes blindfolded, peeking through slits because that rag is so fucking old worn-out, stretched thin, barely even there” JusticeRacial InequalityLady Justice Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“Black Mona Lisa My umi's face is the most beautiful in the world Skin like sleeping in on snow days beneath thick blankets black Smile like an eighty-degree summer day in April bright Eyes like long subway rides looking out windows watching nothing and everything go by in the dark and letting my thoughts swim deep” Black WomenBlack BeautyBeautiful Black Queen Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“My life, my whole damn life before that courtroom before that trial before that night was like Africa And this door leads to a slave ship And maybe jail maybe jail is is America” AmericaSlaveryCriminal Justice Reform Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“Processed It's like I'm meat or wheat Made into a burger or deli slices Made into pasta or bread Processed Not the boy I was before the machine Before the braking down and pulling apart Before the adding and taking away I was made for easy, fast consumption Like food chains in the hood Umi said don't go there That you are what you eat Those jails that system has swallowed me whole” Criminal JusticeCriminal Justice SystemCriminal Justice Reform Book:Punching the Air Source: Punching the Air
“I dreamed of going to the most remote places on this earth to dig for old bones, older than people. Before humans and their stupid ideas. Before hate. Maybe even before love, too. Dinosaurs just existed. No lectures, no books, no language. No world-conquering Europeans and no defeated everybody else. Just those powerful, unrestrained creatures roaming the planet.” PeopleLoveLifeEarthTimeHateOldDinosaursBlack Enough Book:Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America Source: Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America