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Quote by Ta-Nehisi Coates

“Forget about intentions. What any institution, or its agents, 'intend' for you is secondary… The point of this language of 'intention' and 'personal responsibility' is broad exoneration. Mistakes were made. Bodies were broken. People were enslaved. We meant well. We tried our best. 'Good intention' is a hall pass through history, a sleeping pill that ensures the Dream.”

Book:Between the World and Me

Work

Between the World and Me

In this powerful and moving work, the author delves into the intersection of race, history, and personal experience, offering a raw and honest perspective on the African American experience. more

Author

Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an American writer known for his insightful social commentary and literary works. His writings often focus on themes of race, history, and social justice, with his most famous work being 'Between the World and Me', which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. more

“The thing I least believe about race in America is that we can disregard it. I'm nowehere close to alone in this, and yet the person I encounter far more often than the racist is the one who believes race isn't an active factor in her thinking, isn't an influence on his interactions with the racial other.”

Race Complacency Race In America Structural Racism

Book:Of Color

Source: Of Color

“During my stay here in your city [Chicago] I have been visited by several groups of your people—all of whom have recited the story of the wrongs and injustices heaped upon the race; all of them appealing to me to denounce these outrages to the world. I have asked each delegation 'What are you doing to help yourselves?' Each group gave the same answer, namely, that they are so divided in church, lodges, etc., that they have not united their forces to fight the common enemy. At last I got mad, and said, 'You people have not been lynched enough! You haven't been lynched enough to drive you together! You say you are only ten millions in this country, with ten times that number against you—all of whom you say are solidly united by race prejudice against your progress. All of you by your own confession stand as individual units striving against a united band to fight or hold your own. Any ten-year-old child knows that a dozen persons fighting as one can make better headway against ten times its number than if each were fighting singlehanded and alone.' What you need in each community is a solid organization to fight race prejudice wherever shown. That organization should be governed by a council of your best men and women. All matters affecting your race welfare should be passed on by that council and loyally obeyed and supported by all members of your race. Until you do that much, it is useless to appeal to others to do for you what you can best do for yourselves.”

Solidarity Lynching Race In America 1894 To The Seeker Of Truth Chicago Women S Club

Book:Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells

Source: Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells

“Who cares about another dead white woman in the land of the Lakota?”

Race Relations Native Americans Race In America

Book:In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space

Source: In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space

“In the American media, white people debate whether race matters, rich people debate whether poverty matters, and men debate whether gender matters. People for whom these problems must matter -- for they structure the limitations of their lives -- are locked out of the discussion.”

Race Media Privilege Gender Discrimination Sexism Race In America

Book:The View From Flyover Country: Essays by Sarah Kendzior

Source: The View From Flyover Country: Essays by Sarah Kendzior

“I pointed to a Black man standing nearby and said, "If I had said something up there on that stage today that was crazy, that Black man — even though he doesn't know me — would have pulled me aside and asked me what the fuck I was talking about. I told him that white people need to do the same thing.”

Race In America

Book:The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6' 4", African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama's Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian

Source: The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6' 4", African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama's Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian

“In most black people, there is a South Side, a sense of home, that never leaves, and yet to compete in the world, we have to go forth. So we learn to code-switch and become bilingual. We save our Timberlands for the weekend, and our jokes for the cats in the mail room. Some of us give ourselves up completely and become the mask, while others overcompensate and turn every dustup into the Montgomery bus boycott. But increasingly, as we move into the mainstream, black folks are taking a third road -- becoming ourselves.”

Minorities Black People Race In America Bilingualism Bicultural

Book:We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

Source: We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy

“Emer was troubled at how all interpretation now devolved in matters of race or gender or religion. There was no art anymore, even in children's stories. Why wasn't the crow female? Why was The Creator a He? Wasn't Bald Eagle insensitive to men with hair loss? This is how we spend our time now.”

Art Gender Equality Race In America

Book:Miss Subways

Source: Miss Subways

“Just as some historians seemed more shocked that the author of the Declaration of Independence had sex with Sally Hemmings than by the fact that he owned her, Clinton received far more censure for his sexual misdeeds than for other moral lapses, such as his politically motivated decision to ignore the finding of a bipartisan panel that issuing needles to drug addicts would save lives and curtail the spread of AIDS without increasing drug addiction.”

Sex Race In America

Author:Stephanie Coontz

“Life always gives second chances… usually to the people who don’t deserve them.”