Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Richard Rodriguez

Quote by Richard Rodriguez

“After the second chapter of Days of Obligation, which is about the death of a friend of mine from AIDS, was published in Harper's, I got this rather angry letter from a gay-and-lesbian group that was organizing a protest against the magazine. It was the same old problem: political groups have almost no sense of irony.”

Quote by Richard Rodriguez

Create image

Author

Richard Rodriguez
Richard Rodriguez

Richard Rodriguez is an American writer born on July 31, 1944. His works primarily explore issues of identity, culture, and class, particularly the experiences of Latinos in American society. Rodriguez is known for his profound social commentary and literary talent. more

You May Also Like

“For them [LGBT group], language has to say exactly what it means. "Why aren't you proud of being gay?" they wanted to know. "Why are you so dark? Why are you so morbid? Why are you so sad? Don't you realize, we're all okay? Let's celebrate that fact." But that is not what writers do. We don't celebrate being "okay." If you want to be okay, take an aspirin.”

IfsKnowsWantMeanFactsWantedLanguageRealizingDarkGroupsProudGayOkayCelebrateLgbtMorbidBeing GaySo SadAspirinBeing Okay
Author:Richard Rodriguez
Create image

“In some ways I consider myself more Chinese, because I live in San Francisco, which is becoming a predominantly Asian city. I avoid falling into the black-and-white dialectic in which most of America still seems trapped. I have always recognized that, as an American, I am in relationship with other parts of the world; that I have to measure myself against the Pacific, against Asia. Having to think of myself in relationship to that horizon has liberated me from the black-and-white checkerboard.”

ThinkingWorldWayStillsSeemsAmericaFallBlackWhiteCitiesBecomingChineseHorizonTrappedBlack And WhiteAsiaAsianSan FranciscoLiberatedPacificDialecticsRelationships With OthersCheckerboard
Author:Richard Rodriguez
Create image

“I had an Indian face, but I never saw it as Indian, in part because in America the Indian was dead. The Indian had been killed in cowboy movies, or was playing bingo in Oklahoma. Also, in my middle-class Mexican family indio was a bad word, one my parents shy away from to this day. That's one of the reasons, of course, why I always insist, in my bratty way, on saying, Soy indio! - "I am an Indian!"”

WayReasonAmericaFacesCoursesParentClassSawsMiddleIndianMiddle ClassShyThis DayCowboyMexicanOklahomaBad WordSoyBingoCowboy Movie
Author:Richard Rodriguez
Create image

“The myth of the dead Indian goes back to the Protestant settlement of the U.S. The Pilgrims wanted to start a new life in America. They wanted to believe that in some sense they had come to a new Eden and that they could leave history behind in Europe. So they convinced themselves that this land had no history, that this was "virgin" land. This made the Indians' presence inconvenient.”

BelieveMadeWantedAmericaBehindsLandEuropeMythConvincedIndianVirginsNew LifeEdenProtestantsPilgrimSettlementInconvenient
Author:Richard Rodriguez
Create image