“There appears to be a vast amount of confusion on this point, but I do not know many Negroes who are eager to be "accepted" by white people, still less to be loved by them; they, the blacks, simply don't wish to be beaten over the head by the whites every instant of our brief passage on this planet. White people in this country will have quite enough to do in learning how to accept and love themselves and each other, and when they have achieved this -- which will not be tomorrow and will not be today and may very well be never -- the Negro problem will no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed.” LoveAmericaPoliticsRaceCompassionAcceptanceRacismAfrican AmericansRace RelationsWhite People Book:The Fire Next Time Source: The Fire Next Time
“There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you. The terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope. They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it. They have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men. Many of them, indeed, know better, but, as you will discover, people find it very difficult to act on what they know.” AcceptanceRacismSuperiorityAfrican AmericansRace RelationsInferiorityWhite People Book:The Fire Next Time Source: The Fire Next Time
“But I reckon,' she said slowly, 'that I don't want to be with you no more'n you want to be with me. I don't want no man what's ashamed and scared. Can't do me no good, that kind of man.” AcceptanceDeparture Book:Go Tell it on the Mountain (Penguin Modern Classics) by James Baldwin (4-Oct-2001) Paperback Source: Go Tell it on the Mountain (Penguin Modern Classics) by James Baldwin (4-Oct-2001) Paperback
“There appears to be a vast amount of confusion on this point, but I do not know many Negroes who are eager to be "accepted" by white people, still less to be loved by them; they, the blacks, simply don't wish to be beaten over the head by the whites every instant of our brief passage on this planet.” AcceptanceRace Relations Book:The Fire Next Time Source: The Fire Next Time