michael-eric-dyson Quotes About thinking

“I think the reality is Michael Jackson's humanity is so deep, the implications and inferences of his art so monumentally and magnificently global, that nothing American television could do to besmirch his character could ever, if you will, deny the legitimate genius that he represents and America has responded, as indeed has the globe.”

Ifs Thinking Art Character Reality America Humanity Television Genius Deny Globes Implications Inference American Television

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“The parallels between Elvis and Michael Jackson as incredible artists is evident. But I think that where Michael Jackson even transcends Elvis Presley.”

Thinking Artist Incredibles Evident Parallels

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think that he [Michael Jackson] did derive an ultimate sense of joy and satisfaction in what others enjoyed from him that was denied to himself. There's no question that the transcendent art that he created was a means, an instrument, a vehicle for others to experience what he didn't.”

Thinking Mean Art Joy Ultimate Instruments Satisfaction Enjoyed Denied Vehicle Transcendent

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think that what Donald Trump is doing, the way in which racism, xenophobia, anti-Muslim belief and the like are being expressed through the campaign of Donald Trump, calls for, I think, a very vigorous and aggressive response to what he's saying.”

Thinking Way Belief Trump Racism Response Campaigns Aggressive Vigorous Xenophobia

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“What I'm talking about is both political and then also extra-political. Because what Donald Trump is doing is not simply to be measured in terms of its political effect. It's the very spiritual uplift of the nation. It's the very tenor and tone, morally speaking, of what this country is about. And so the unleashing of these fierce and ferocious beliefs have a potential impact that is quite deleterious, quite negative, quite destructive. And I think we have to say something.”

Thinking Country Spiritual Political Belief Nations Term Talking Effects Trump Negative Impact Uplifting Tone Extras Destructive Fierce Tenors Unleashing

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“[The World Series] introduced me for the first time to a team with a lot of black players. Detroit had about three of them: I think it was Willie Horton, Gates Brown, and Earl Wilson - might have been one or two more in '68.”

Thinking World Firsts Has Beens Two Might Three Black Player Team First Time Series Brown Gates Might Have Been Detroit Wilson World Series

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think it's extremely important to challenge white brothers and sisters and think more systematically and strategically about the whiteness that they possess.”

Thinking Important Challenges White Brother Brothers And Sisters Whiteness

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I don't mind the job of saying to white people, "Yes, this is what I think you need to know, this is what I think you've been missing." And it's my job to educate white folks every day.”

People Thinking Knows Needs Mind Jobs White Missing Folks Educate

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“Men think women, they don't think men. They don't think toxic masculinity.”

Thinking Men Toxic Masculinity

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“The issue of redistribution of resources and wealth needs to resolved systemically, but in the meantime but there are individual spots you can occupy. There are things that you can do on a daily basis that will make a difference in moving the needle in individual lives. When we look at the mentoring of young black kids, for instance, the number-one mentor group is white women. I think after that maybe it's black women, and then white men, and then black men. We can make all kinds of arguments about that.”

“White privilege allows a certain kind of leisure that can be deployed by white people of advantage toward our restoration. That's all true and good. But it also suggests that there is an individual approach to the issues that many of these white people have taken up as a recognition of their tie to and responsibility for some of the inequities that exist. And I don't think it has to be an either-or. I think it has to be a bifocal approach.”

People Thinking Kind Certain Individual White Responsibility Issues Taken Approach Advantage Privilege Recognition Ties Leisure Restoration White Privilege Either Or

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think sometimes younger people - not necessarily thinkers and intellectuals and the like, but people who are on social media and who are not as informed as journalists or professional thinkers - may get a bit, you know, impatient with the necessity of sustained thinking, sustained argumentation, sustained dialogue.”

People Thinking Knows May Sometimes Social Bits Media Social Media Dialogue Journalist Thinker Impatient Argumentation

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“We are not all the same; we don't think alike; and we have the right to openly express those differences in ways that, hopefully, will contribute to our community's welfare.”

Thinking Hopefully Welfare

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“We come from a proud tradition of people who have insisted that none of us can be truly successful until at least the barriers to such success and thriving are completely removed. I think the black narcissism that prevails, along with the stylish materialism and self-satisfied, smug attitudes among many of our upwardly mobile brothers and sisters should be identified and criticized.”

People Thinking Black Attitude Successful Brother Proud Tradition Barriers Materialism Narcissism Brothers And Sisters Stylish

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“Perception, after all, is not simply a matter of what you believe about yourself, it all encompasses what others think about you, and what has been thought of you historically. I say we can pay attention to those other dimensions of our identity - class, gender, sexual orientation, geographical region - while at the same time understanding how our historically produced racial identity continues to serve, or undercut us.”

Thinking Believe Understanding Attention Identity Perception Gender Pay Attention About Yourself

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I don't think that an emphasis on the peculiar plight of black males at all suggests that others are not suffering, or that such attention suggests that black men and women feel sorry for themselves.”

Thinking Men Suffering Black Attention Men And Women Sorry

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think that the over-incarceration of black and brown folk is one of the great crimes of American society.”

Thinking Black Crime

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“Of course, I could never suggest that only poor people are misogynistic; too many rich folk are just as hateful of women as any poor person might be. I don't know if social problems are only circular; perhaps other geometric metaphors might better describe the triangular effects of social vulnerability, political oppression, and racial disadvantage. I think you're right - we've got to focus on both analyses and solutions. And sometimes, an adequate analysis goes far along in suggesting a suitable solution.”

People Thinking Sometimes Problem Political Poor Rich Focus Solutions Metaphor Oppression Vulnerability Poor People Hateful Geometric

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I don't think you can bury words. I think the more you try to dismiss them, the more power you give to them, the more circulation they have.”

Thinking Giving Trying Circulation

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think public intellectuals have a responsibility - to be self-critical on the one hand, to do serious, nuanced work rigorously executed; but to also be able to get off those perches and out of those ivory towers and speak to the real people who make decisions; to speak truth to power and the powerless with lucidity and eloquence.”

People Thinking Real Self Hands Able Speak Decision Responsibility Serious Critical Towers Powerless Eloquence Speak The Truth Ivory Lucidity Ivory Tower

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think that Michael Jackson, just as an entertainer, as a figure who embodies the contradictions of Black identity, and the possibilities of R&B music in the '70s and '80s will continue to be one of the most recognized and formidable human beings that we've ever produced in our tradition.”

Thinking Humans Black Human Beings Figures Identity Possibility Tradition Contradiction 80s Entertainers Formidable

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think that not only do saints make poor role models, they are incapable in one sense of identifying radically with those of us who are mere mortals. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s mortality says to us that here's a figure who got up every day of his life facing tremendous odds and yet overcame them.”

Thinking Poor Roles Figures Kings Models Mere Saint Mortals Mortality Role Models Odds Incapable Luther Identifying Mere Mortals

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think there's no question that Michael Jackson was the foremost entertainer of his generation; perhaps of all time, arguably, taking the skills of a Sammy Davis, Jr., bringing together the street dance of African American urban culture, joining them to the politics of dance, of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly on that sphere alone.”

Thinking Together Culture Generations Streets Skills All Time African American Spheres Genes Urban Entertainers Joining Sammy Davis Sammy Davis Jr

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“I think we have to face right in the center of the hurricane, if you will, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s foibles and faults. I think that we do no good to ourselves and do no honor to him by pretending that he did not fail, that he did not wrestle greatly and, at times, surrender to his own sins and his own faults and failures.”

Ifs Thinking Faces Sin Failing Kings Honor Faults Surrender Pretending Luther Hurricanes Foibles

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“You cannot hear the name Martin Luther King, Jr., and not think of death. You might hear the words 'I have a dream,' but they will doubtlessly only serve to underscore an image of a simple motel balcony, a large man made small, a pool of blood. For as famous as he may have been in life, it is - and was - death that ultimately defined him.”

Thinking Men May Has Beens Made Dream Might Names Simple Blood Kings Defined Pool Luther Balconies Motels

Book:April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America

Source: April 4, 1968: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Death and How It Changed America

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