“It was the ghetto. I had seen them before from the high altitude of one who could look down and pity. Now I belonged here and the view was different. A first glance told it all. Here it was pennies and clutter and spittle on the curb... Here was the indefinable stink of despair. Here modesty was the luxury. People struggled for it... Here sensuality was escape, proof of manhood for people who could prove it no other way... Here hips drew the eye and flirted with the eye and caused the eye to lust or laugh. It was better to look at hips than at the ghetto.”
Quote by John Howard Griffin
Book:Black Like Me
Work
Black Like Me
Browse quotes and source details for this work. more
Author
You May Also Like
Source: Find Me Unafraid: Love, Loss, and Hope in an African Slum
Source: Pulled from the River
“Poverty comes from the poverty of positive thoughts and creative ideas.”
Source: The Trumpet of Nordland
Source: The Trumpet of Nordland
“Rich can live better than poor but they cannot live without poor.”
Source: Wealth of Words
