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Erasure Quotes

Browse 45 quotes about Erasure.

Erasure Quotes

“In the meantime, a massive and frightening bleakness inside me kept expanding and rattling. Sometimes I wrote about it in my diary, sensing that if I didn’t somehow fill the hollowness, it would swallow my heart and spit out my core. Other times I wished for the emptiness to scrape me off, a permanent erasure. I was terrified that I was supposed to be living and I wasn’t, that I must have some prospect and I didn’t.”

“Luck is what decides whose name gets written in gold, and whose page is torn out before it begins.”

“The story didn’t want to kill her. It wanted to write her in. To tame her. To turn her rebellion into a lesson.”

“Somewhere very far from here, a blank page waits again. But this time, it’s not for a protagonist. It’s for the NPCs.”

“Some people were written in ink. They could not be erased. But I was pencil. And now, I’m the one holding the eraser.”

“The condition of being alienated and "othered" reflects the ways in which navigating Western societies as a Black person is an endlessly unsettling experience, something that might be ripped whole from the pages of a speculative novel. Because of this, the search for lost cultural touchstones is a gesture towards survival: it is an Afrofuturistic act. At its heart it is the creation of a possible future based on a reconstructed, or reimagined past. In this way, a ware is wages against erasure.”

“The Unholy Trinity (Naskaristana 2533) History of the world written by colonizers is no different from map of the world made by flat earthers - just like flat earthers flatten the globe to fit their delusion, colonizers flatten civilizations into savages, philosophies into myths, cosmologies into coincidences, lived holiness into paganism, erasure into expansion, trafficking into trade, native resistance into terrorism, and colonial terrorism into civilizing. The vatican, british empire, and uncle sam, these three are the apex predator of planet earth.”

“History of the world written by colonizers is no different from map of the world made by flat earthers - just like flat earthers flatten the globe to fit their delusion, colonizers flatten civilizations into savages, philosophies into myths, cosmologies into coincidences, lived holiness into paganism, erasure into expansion, trafficking into trade, native resistance into terrorism, and colonial terrorism into civilizing.”

“Letter to The Braindead (Naskaristana 2532) The only reason the west makes such a song and dance about antisemitism, is not because it's a human rights issue, but because it's the only narrative where the colonizers emerge as the good guys - but place indigenous populations at the center of history, and every last white heroic propaganda collapses in dust. Think about it for a while, if you're not braindead - how come french resistance, polish resistance, all belong to history's mainstream fight against tyranny, yet you still stutter to call the pilgrims as parasites, british monarchy as brutes, and the vatican as vultures!”

“The only reason the west makes such a song and dance about antisemitism, is not because it's a human rights issue, but because it's the only narrative where the colonizers emerge as the good guys - but place indigenous populations at the center of history, and every last white heroic propaganda collapses in dust.”

“Why You Must Speak Your Name (Naskaristana 2593) You know why I have to mention my name over and over, in as many places as I can, even though the name is not important - it's because my name represents every people ever trampled beneath the feet by the half-educated apes out to spread "civilization" - my name represents the congolese, my name represents the palestinians, my name represents the sikhs, my name represents the muslims, my name represents each and every human being incarcerated for merely existing. So I say again, the name is not important, yet you must speak your name, because every time a human speaks their name, an ape loses their footing in history.”

“The greatest story ever told is the story never told, the story of countless cultures wiped out of record, just so one cartel could have complete autonomy over the discourse of morality, culture and holiness, all the while being the scourge upon everything moral, cultured and sacred.”

“Earthright Anthem (Sonnet 2613-2615) The soil is older than every border, older than flags and state decree. Earth is property of no brute empire, nor promised prize of manifest atrocity. No badge can baptize brutality, no holy water can bleach blood stains - the land remembers the salt of tears of every people ever slain. Women are indigenous to their bodies, Palestinians are native to their home. Privilege cannot buy righteousness, nor can blind faith redraw chromosome. When erasure becomes ape religion, mutiny becomes human right. Stars that burn for others, wither in body, but live in light. From Palestine to Kashmir to America, every land shall be humanized, not by bullets and atom bombs, but by atomic people against the lies. Acts of terror by governments are still terror all the same, genocide wrapped in diplomacy is just murder by another name. Divide and rule, marks the animal, unite and integrate, makes humankind. We are stardust come alive - unbent, unflinching, borderless mind. Human is the bridge, and bridge is the truth. Nobody is undocumented, on a planet built on loot.”

“Decolonization Anthem - Song of The Global South (Sonnet 2616-2619) Humanity is mightier than empires of apes, life is braver than borders of the dead. No one's undocumented on a planet built on loot, champions of freedom are champions of truth. We are children of the Global South, not a lost cause or subjects of pity, not tax breaks in a donor's ledger, nor footnotes in whitewashed history. Our lands are rich with brains, our soil is rich with minerals, our veins pulse with creation, hearts bright with civilization. They looted our gold, then sold us "aid" - they burnt our libraries, then sold us "education." Colonizers were the real cannibals of history, out to civilize humans with far advanced society - suffering of the South was not bad luck or destiny, just the grand design of Manifest Atrocity. Rise, O Peoples of Earth - Rise till the looters fall. Roar like Sonnets of Naskar - Fire the fascists, free the world! In every culture we carry the cosmos, in every tongue we carry our home. Our names are not doormats of empire, our dust is larger than Greece and Rome. Own your color, your accent, own your stories, your theologies, be proud of your sweat, your stubborn dignity - for the North wrote itself as civilized, but we, the Global South, authored humanity. They told us, history is white, holiness is western, progress is european - but the hands that built the world, with science, medicine, poetry, philosophy, astronomy and mathematics, were black, brown and indigenous. Stand and burn the colonial syllabus, disown the doctrines built on erasure - rise and write like blood on fire - write your anthem, write your future. Rise, O Children of Earth, no matter the color or culture, you have more heart than ape empires, more soul than parasites and vultures! Burn the cartels, fire the fascists - I lived my duty, now you be the Naskar. Let the cosmos stand witness, to the spark of human nature.”

“Only Backward Minority of Earth (Naskaristana 2543) Eurocentrism is the biggest fraud in education, eurocentrism is the antithesis of education. The only minority that has historically caused irreparable damage to the world are the white people, yet you confuse every little mediocre literature from such backward population as default knowledge - and by act of conscience if a braveheart white defies the status quo, you declare them as woke infected. First sign of an educated mind - you don't start a conversation on philosophy mentioning greeks, you don't start a conversation on poetry mentioning the english. White people discovered nothing but other people's land, other people's science, other people's philosophy - Europe is the real footnote in the history of knowledge, till you understand what this means in your bones, your philosophy is just as fictional as your theology.”

“She wasn’t a protagonist. She wasn’t even a side character. She was a filler. A backdrop with blood and breath and no arc.”

“The universe had no voice. Only script. But June had a voice. Cracked. Small. Raw. But hers.”

“Isn’t it interesting that you don’t even have to say “Duke Men’s Basketball”? You just say “Duke Basketball,” and everyone assumes you’re talking about the men’s team? As if the women’s team doesn’t exist? Isn’t it interesting that you just say “the NBA” and everyone knows you’re talking about the (Men’s) National Basketball Association? But if you want to talk about women’s professional basketball, you have to say “the WNBA”? Anyway.”

“Under the crust of that portion of Earth called the United States of America—"from California . . . to the Gulf Stream waters"—are interred the bones, villages, fields, and sacred objects of American Indians. They cry out for their stories to be heard through their descendants who carry the memories of how the country was founded and how it came to be as it is today. [opening lines of the Introduction; ellipsis sic].”

“Plainly put, the imperative to “be professional” is the imperative to be whiter, straighter, wealthier, and more masculine. A wolf in sheep’s clothing masquerading as a neutral term, professionalism hangs over the head of anyone who’s different, who deviates from the hegemony of white men.”

“At first glance, professionalism tries to convince you it’s a neutral word, merely meant to signify a collection of behaviors, clothing, and norms “appropriate” for the workplace. We just ask that everyone be professional, the cis white men will say, smiles on their faces, as if they’re not asking for much. We try to maintain a professional office environment. But never has a word in the English language been so loaded with racism, sexism, heteronormativity, or trans exclusion. Whenever someone is telling you to “be professional,” they’re really saying, “be more like me.” If you’re black, “being professional” can often mean speaking differently, avoiding black cultural references, or not wearing natural hair. If you’re not American, “being professional” can mean abandoning your cultural dress for Western business clothes. If you’re not Christian, “being professional” can mean potentially removing your hijab to fit in, sitting by while your officemates ignore your need for kosher or halal food, sucking up the fact that your office puts up a giant Christmas tree every year. If you’re low-income or working class, “being professional” can mean spending money you don’t have on work clothes—“dressing nicely” for a job that may not pay enough for you to really afford to do so. If you’re a woman, “being professional” can mean navigating a veritable minefield of double standards. Show some skin, but don’t be a slut. Wear heels, but not too high, and not too low, either. Wear form-fitting clothes, but not too form-fitting. We offer maternity leave, but don’t “interrupt your career” by taking it. And if you’re trans like me, “being professional” can mean putting your identity away unless it conforms to dominant gender norms.”