Jay Coles > Quotes

“I’m seeing so many All Lives Matter bullshit posts that have my entire body shaking. People don’t fucking know that black folks were never included in the All. All-American means white. All-inclusive means white. All lives means white lives. It’s bullshit. White folks always make it about them, and I’m pissed off that they’re trying to mask their hatred with these tags.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“I prayed for twenty years. Nothing happened until I got off my knees and started marching with my feet.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“I tell myself that I love this skin, that I've always loved my blackness, that if the world doesn't love me, I will love myself for the both of us.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“Who gets to be free?
Is someone free when they don't have to think about the way people look at them or treat them because of the color of their skin?
Is someone free when they don't have to spend time on this earth with people who have hearts made of hate?
Or is someone only really free when they're no longer a part of this world?”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“Nothing will ruin your life more than thinking you should have your life together already.”
― Jay Coles, Come As You Were

“...the thing about hate is you can't throw it on someone else without getting a little bit on yourself.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“I’ve spent too much time wondering what people think of me and spent so long trying to look good enough for Dodson, for white people, for Mama, for everyone except myself. And i think it’s my time to finally be who I am, who I want to be”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“But you never know how strong you really are or can be until it's the only choice you have”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“Hey, you just 'member it's all in the butter. I keep trynna tell your cousins that, and they don't listen for the life of 'em."
Butter is probably Grandma's favorite ingredient, and she puts it in nearly everything. I believe she'd put it in her raisin bran in the mornings if she could.
One year, she made deep-fried sticks of butter and dipped them in chocolate sauce and melted peanut butter. I'm not gonna lie. It was pretty flame, but I'm sure at least one of my arteries clogged up.”
― Jay Coles, Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love

“I crack open two eggs and beat them in a bowl with some rice milk, pouring a few tablespoons of cinnamon and sugar, then some brown sugar and nutmeg.
After putting some Cap'n Crunch cereal into a small sandwich bag, I take a frying pan and beat the bag until the pieces are all smashed and powdery, like a great dry rub.
I pick up a piece of bread and dip it in my French toast mix. Then I dip it in the crushed Cap'n Crunch and cook it in the frying pan until it's a nice, golden brown and ready to flip on the other side.”
― Jay Coles, Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love

“Once I find my way to Grandma's restaurant, after what feels like a zillion wrong turns and dead ends, I walk in and smell all the bomb soul food- her famous fried chicken with all the creole seasonings, thyme, rosemary, and tarragon. I even get a whiff of her famous sweet potato pie, and I'm practically drooling.”
― Jay Coles, Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love

“I cut the chicken breasts into halves, season them with the dry seasonings, and bake them. When they're ready and cooked all the way through, I wrap each half in bacon and fry them with onion slices until the bacon's a nice, crispy, golden brown and the onions are soft and cooked through and through. The whole time they cook and simmer, I run the stick of butter around the chicken halves for even crispier edges and that buttery taste that brings anything to the next level- a strategy probably everybody black knows, and I guess it's to my benefit there's not many black people in this competition.”
― Jay Coles, Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food & Love

“I'm haunted by the bright sun. I really wish it would get the hell out of my face.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“He's sitting on the edge of his twin-sized bed, his eyes cold, brown, and drained, like coffee stains.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“It gets to the point where even the hurt fucking hurts.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“We are here today for a few different reasons! To fight for our homie Tyler Johnson. To take a stand against police brutality and demand change and justice for all. We're here to say we've had enough. No more. We shouldn't be afraid of the people who're supposed to protect us. We just shouldn't have to be. Peace and equality shouldn't be this hard.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“The fist in the air originated as a symbol of black power and pride, but it's also a symbol of solidarity and unity, and I think the fact that so many protestors showed up says a lot about how we stand as a people, and about how we can bring change. Together.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“I'm broken like a promise...”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“You can’t be racist if you’re a minority,” G-mo argues. “Prejudiced? Yes. But not racist. We ain’t got the power in this society to be racist.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“Feelings. Fade. Memories. Stick. Kind of like honey.”
― Jay Coles, Come As You Were

“Mama believes that when it rains, family members who have crossed over to the other side use the drops to tell us things...”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“Maybe if we keep letting all those things crash and burn before our eyes, they'll somehow fall back in place or maybe something new will come out from the ashes, like a phoenix.”
― Jay Coles, Things We Couldn't Say

“All I am left thinking is: What lesson did I have to be taught? Not to be a concerned individual? Not to care about someone else's innocent life, the boy lying unconscious across from me? Not to care about my own life? Not to be a member of my own race?”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“If we stay quiet, if we don't fight back, if we let them silence us, we're sending them a signal that they can keep doing this mess.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“Sometime's it's hard to hear people tell us to stay strong. But you never know how strong you really are or can be until it's the only choice you have.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“I strongly believe that it's up to everyone, regardless of race, to heal that divide and come together to fight police brutality.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“Your family can be the people you’re born into or the people you choose or some combination of both, but we all step into love. We’re all on this crash course of life figuring out the people who we’re meant to let go and the ones who are worth every risk.”
― Jay Coles, Things We Couldn't Say

“People will try to convince you that you don't deserve to live. That you don't deserve to exist. They'll ignore your voice. Lock you up. They'll even kill you to take you out of this world. And through it all, you have to fight. Fight to remind yourself that you do matter. That you do deserve to exist. That you do deserve to have your voice heard. When the whole world's trying to convince you that you don't matter, it can be a constant struggle - day in, day out - to remember that you do. But you have to. Because if you don't, then that's really when you've lost yourself.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here

“Maybe this is my happy beginning.”
― Jay Coles, Things We Couldn't Say

“I'm seeing so many All Lives Matter bullshit posts that have my entire body shaking. People don't fucking know that black folks were never included in the all. All-American means white. All-inclusive means white. All lives means white lives. It's bullshit. White folks always make it about them, and I'm pissed off that they're trying to mask their hatred with these tags.”
― Jay Coles, Tyler Johnson Was Here