Home / Quotes / Quote by Michael Eric Dyson

Quote by Michael Eric Dyson

“I knew Snoop Dog didn't start misogyny. I knew that Tupac Shakur didn't start sexism, and God knows that Dr. Dre didn't start patriarchy. Yet they extended it in vicious form within their own communities. They made vulnerable people more vulnerable.”

Quote by Michael Eric Dyson

Author

Michael Eric Dyson

Michael Eric Dyson is an American author, academic, and public intellectual, born on October 23, 1958. He is recognized for his work in African American studies, sociology, and cultural criticism. Dyson has authored numerous books on race, politics, and culture, and has held faculty positions at various universities. more

You May Also Like

“I suppose that I inherited the same vocabulary and world view as most black Christians do, most Christians in general, to be sure. It was heterosexist in the sense that it took the heterosexual orientation as the norm from which to start as the given. And everything that fell outside of that was not acceptable.”

World Christian Given Black Views Acceptable Vocabulary Norm Orientation World View

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

“If you take a guy like a Barack Obama, who's raised millions of dollars from the most donors in the history of this nation, it suggests that there's a deep and profound hunger for a new politics to come forth. And a guy like him has been able to mobilize that and to reach certain parts of the hip-hop generation.”

Ifs Has Beens Able Guy Certain Nations Millions Generations Dollars Profound Raised Hunger Hip Hop Barack Hips Hops Donors

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“Jeremiah Wright is one of the greatest prophetic preachers that black America has produced. What I find striking is that many white brothers and sisters miss the fact that there would be no black church if the white church wasn't political and racist in refusing to worship with us.”

Ifs Facts Would Be America Political Black Church White Missing Brother Worship Racist Preacher Brothers And Sisters Prophetic Black America Black Church Jeremiah

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“New Orleans invented the brown paper bag party - usually at a gathering in a home - where anyone darker than the bag attached to the door was denied entrance. The brown bag criterion survives as a metaphor for how the black cultural elite quite literally establishes caste along color lines within black life.”

Home Black Lines Party Doors Color Paper Metaphor Brown Bags Denied Elites Gathering New Orleans Criteria Entrances Castes Black Lives Paper Bags

Author:Michael Eric Dyson

“Obviously, Jay-Z is one of the greatest entertainers of the world today. Not only is he a remarkable rhetorical genius, he's also a man of deep sympathy and empathy for those who are lost and vulnerable, but especially under-educated youth of all cultures and stripes.”

Men World Today Culture Lost Youth Genius Empathy Educated Vulnerable Remarkable World Today Entertainers Stripes Rhetorical Deep Sympathy

Author:Michael Eric Dyson