Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Michael Eric Dyson

Quote by Michael Eric Dyson

“We must continue to insist to our better off brothers and sisters that they are in the same racial boat as their less better off kin. Even elevated class status and superior financial standing cannot ward off the effects and consequences of racism.”

Quote by Michael Eric Dyson

Create image

Author

Michael Eric Dyson
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

“Blackness also has positive dimensions, those that bear the political meanings of African American people, among other blacks, who have struggled for self-determination and freedom for centuries. The absence of such an identity doesn't automatically guarantee that we will be free of the images and ideals that fuel stereotypes about black identity. Changing the name will not alter the reality.”

PeopleRealityPoliticalBlackIdentityAbsenceAfrican AmericanStereotype
Author:Michael Eric Dyson
Create image

“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.”

ThinkingBelieveUnderstandingAttentionIdentityPerceptionGenderPay AttentionAbout Yourself
Author:Michael Eric Dyson
Create image

“The emphasis on personal responsibility is something we've had in black America from the get-go. Every major leader and intellectual worth her salt has advocated for black folk to better ourselves and push ourselves to the limits of our abilities and gifts. At the same time, we've got to focus on creating a society that recognizes our worth, regardless of race and other factors.”

BlackAbilityResponsibilityLeaderFocusIntellectualPersonal Responsibility
Author:Michael Eric Dyson
Create image

“If your experiences suggest to you that poor black folk are lazy, then you must be true to those experiences - except, however, as your experiences are pressured by empirical investigation of complex phenomena. I suspect that even when you control for variables of individual laziness, you'll see that what you see before you masses of black poor people unwilling to work hard to get better will not be as simply concluded as you might at first believe. Continue your good work.”

PeopleBelieveIndividualBlackPoorHard WorkBeing TrueGet BetterLazyLazinessGood WorkPoor People
Author:Michael Eric Dyson
Create image

“It is extremely interesting to me that black males, and other black folk, are viewed as self-pitying, by either other blacks who have failed to accurately calculate their own diminished status as a result of racial animosity - both individual and systemic - or by whites who fail to comprehend how, after forcing black folk into subservience for hundreds of years, they now whine about small privileges that pale - so to speak - in comparison to the untold advantage of centuries of benefit.”

IndividualSpeakBlackInterestingFailingComparisonAnimosity
Author:Michael Eric Dyson
Create image

“Furthermore, the financial and social investment in prisons means that black and brown youth become, essentially, fodder for the machinery of capitalized incarceration. The steady supply of guns in the U.S. makes an already untenable situation even more dangerous, and all of us must raise our voices, write to Congress, hit the streets in protest, attend budget meetings of local municipalities - all to state our opposition to such criminal procedures and practices for our youth.”

WritingMeanBlackSituationDangerousYouthGunPrisonMeetingsInvestmentFinancialProtestSteadyIncarceration
Author:Michael Eric Dyson
Create image