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June Jordan

June Jordan Quotes

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Famous June Jordan Quotes

“South Africa used to seem so far away. Then it came home to me. It began to signify the meaning of white hatred here. That was what the sheets and the suits and the ties covered up, not very well. That was what the cowardly guys calling me names from their speeding truck wanted to happen to me, to all of me: to my people. That was what would happen to me if I walked around the corner into the wrong neighborhood. That was Birmingham. That was Brooklyn. That was Reagan. That was the end of reason. South Africa was how I came to understand that I am not against war; I am against losing the war.”

PeopleIfsWellsWarEndsReasonHomeSeemsHappensWantedUsedGuyNamesWhiteCallingLosingHatredSouthCornersSuitsTiesNeighborhoodCoveredFar AwaySouth AfricaSheetsTruckBrooklynCowardlyAround The CornerSpeedingBirminghamAgainst WarCovered Up
Author:June Jordan
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“The United States Supreme Court, once a reliable if ultimate recourse for progressive and even revolutionary grievances, has become a retrograde wellspring for enormous economic and social distress.”

IfsStatesLawSocialJusticeUnitedUnited StatesEconomicUltimateCourtSupremeEnormousRevolutionaryProgressiveDistressSupreme CourtGrievanceRecourseWellspringRetrograde
Book:Technical Difficulties: African-American Notes on the State of the Union
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“and if i if i ever let love go because the hatred and the whisperings become a phantom dictate i o- bey in lieu of impulse and realities (the blossoming flamingos of my wild mimosa trees) then let love freeze me out. (from i must become a menace to my enemies)”

IfsRealityEnemyTreeHatredImpulseFreezeWhisperingPhantomsMenaceBlossomingFlamingosMimosas
Book:Directed by Desire: The Collected Poems of June Jordan
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“Lately... Americans have begun to understand that trouble does not start somewhere on the other side of town. It seems to originate inside the absolute middle of the homemade cherry pie. In our history, the state has failed to respond to the weak. You could be white, male, Presbyterian and heterosexual besides, but if you get fired or if you get sick tomorrow, you might as well be Black, for all the state will want to hear from you.”

IfsWantWellsDoeStatesSeemsMightAmericaSidesBlackWhiteTroubleMiddleTomorrowWeakSickAbsolutesTownsMalesPieCherriesHomemadePresbyteriansCherry Pie
Book:On call: political essays
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“... if your heart and your honest body can be controlled by the state, or controlled by community taboo, are you not then, and in that case, no more than a slave ruled by outside force? What tyranny could exceed a tyranny that dictates to the human heart, and that attempts to dictate the public career of an honest human body?”

IfsHumansHeartStatesBodyForceCommunityCareersCasesHonestSlaveTyrannyControlledHuman HeartHuman BodyExceedTaboo
Book:Some of Us Did Not Die: New and Selected Essays
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