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Hell of a Book

Book by Jason Mott · 5 quotes · Fear, Race, Trauma

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All Fear Race Trauma Childhood Death Exploitation Grief Historical Consequences Home Invisible Police Violence Pride Racial Injustice Shame Trauma Healing

Hell of a Book Quotes

“Something akin to pride kreeps into his voice, but it's a hollow sort of pride. It's the pride of someone who's rarely proud of anything. It's the type of pride that can be knocked over with a feather, and so it rarely gets to shine in the face of the world. The little Black kid flashes those impossibly white teeth at me and he laughs and then he covers his smile and quells the laughter [...], and I know that he's spent his entire life being afraid to be happy.”

Fear Race Childhood Pride Shame Trauma Invisible

Book:Hell of a Book

Source: Hell of a Book

“Certain bodies don't belong to their inhabitants. Never have, never will again. A persistent, inescapable, and horrific truth known by millions of unsettled bodies. The Fear. It had always been there, but I could see it now. Could really recognize it. And once that happens, once you see it, you can't look away. Can't ever quiet it. Can't ever forget that you don't belong to yourself anymore, but to the hands, fists, cuffs, and bullets of a stranger.”

Fear Race Trauma Trauma Healing Police Violence

Book:Hell of a Book

Source: Hell of a Book

“I know all the smells: humidity, pine trees, thinly veiled racism. It’s what home feels like for me.”

Book:Hell of a Book

Source: Hell of a Book

“That we were frightened by your death-no... it is that your harsh death darkly interrupted us, divided what-had-been from what-would-be: that was our concern; coming to terms with it will accompany everything we do: Today; tomorrow. Again and again. You have gone on.... But you were frightened too.”

Book:Hell of a Book

Source: Hell of a Book

“I’m not sure Black people can be happy in this world. There’s just too much of a backstory of sadness that’s always clawing at their heels. And no matter how hard you try to outrun it, life always comes through with those reminders letting you know that, more than anything, you’re just a part of an exploited people and a denied destiny and all you can do is hate your past and, by proxy, hate yourself”

Exploitation Racial Injustice Historical Consequences

Book:Hell of a Book

Source: Hell of a Book