“I assume the president's going to say he got bad intelligence... I think that wherever you see poverty, whether it's in the white rural community or the black urban community, you see that the resources have been sucked up into the war and tax cuts for the rich.” ThinkingHas BeensWarAmericaBlackPresidentCommunityWhitePovertyRichCuttingTaxesResourcesAssumingUrbanTax CutsRural Communities Author:Charles Rangel
“Michael Jackson carried urban America and eventually American society on his vocal cords for a good 25 to 30 years before even hip-hop became the vox populi of America, and then as an adult he shattered racial barriers.” YearsAmericaAdultsHip HopHipsHopsBarriersUrbanVocalShatteredCordsAmerican SocietyVocal CordsVox Populi Author:Michael Eric Dyson
“Claudia Rankine's Citizen comes at you like doom. It's the best note in the wrong song that is America. Its various realities-'mistaken' identity, social racism, the whole fabric of urban and suburban life-are almost too much to bear, but you bear them, because it's the truth. Citizen is Rankine's Spoon River Anthology, an epic as large and frightening and beautiful as the country and various emotional states that produced it.” CountryStatesWholeRealityAmericaBeautifulSongSocialToo MuchIdentityEmotionalBearsCitizensRacismRiversNotesVariousFrighteningFabricUrbanEpicMistakenDoomSpoonsAnthologyClaudiaMistaken Identity Author:Hilton Als
“I know that I come from mid-20th century America, urban, specifically downtown New York, specifically an Italian-American area, Roman Catholic - that's who I am. And a part of what I know is there's a decency to people who tried to make a living in the kind of world that was around us and also the Skid Row area of the Bowery; it impressed me.” PeopleKnowsWorldKindAmericaCenturyNew YorkAreasCatholicWho I AmItalianImpressedUrban20th CenturyDecencyDowntownRoman CatholicItalian AmericanSkid Row Author:Martin Scorsese