Yasmin Angoe > Quotes

“Bless your heart. The southerner’s kiss of death.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Not What She Seems

“It was the thing about loss and trauma. Years might smooth out their rough edges, but their ghost effects remained, just outside the peripheral vision, waiting to haunt again.”
― Yasmin Angoe, They Come at Knight

“There is only your before and your after.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight

“Burying something meant never being able to truly move on, and so, I remained stuck.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Not What She Seems

“Sometimes it’s better to be quiet and just listen—a life lesson from Chief MJ Brodie. To better learn who you’re dealing with would have been Granddad’s addition.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Not What She Seems

“I nearly said it, but I cherished my peace and kept those thoughts to myself.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Not What She Seems

“Georgia,” Nena began, her tone softening, “your name is the first thing your parents give you, besides life. Don’t ever let anyone take that away from you. So when someone calls you a name you don’t like, like Curious George, for example, stand up for yourself. Don’t accept it just because you don’t want to make a fuss.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight

“They don’t want everyone to succeed, only themselves. Why is that?”
― Yasmin Angoe, They Come at Knight

“That’s why I proposed the co-op, you know? Because I wanted the heads in my city to realize we’re in this fight together. Together we are strong, and we survive. Alone... the shit’s harder. Ultimately all our roads lead here, to this continent. To the islands. To all the places of our origins, wherever they may be. But all of our fight is the same. Oppression. We all fight for our equal piece of the pie.”
― Yasmin Angoe

“off”
― Yasmin Angoe, Not What She Seems

“embarrassing”
― Yasmin Angoe, Not What She Seems

“It’s no different here or in London, you know? I was listening to this discord between Black Americans and Black Londoners, or Africans, and I didn’t understand why they all couldn’t realize that Black people as a whole have been treated as less-than everywhere they are. They’ve been conditioned to believe they were second- or third-class citizens, to accept the privilege of others over their lack of as the norm.”
― Yasmin Angoe, They Come at Knight

“Not long behind Femi was Everlasting Nevermind Chinoba, preferred name Evers,”
― Yasmin Angoe, It Ends with Knight

“Even High Council must adhere to rules,” Nena answered promptly. “We have these rules because if we don’t have rules, then we have anarchy.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight

“I was listening to this discord between Black Americans and Black Londoners, or Africans, and I didn’t understand why they all couldn’t realize that Black people as a whole have been treated as less-than everywhere they are. They’ve been conditioned to believe they were second- or third-class citizens, to accept the privilege of others over their lack of as the norm.” “Or no citizen at all.” “Exactly. Sometimes I wonder if they all know we’re in this fight together.”
― Yasmin Angoe, They Come at Knight

“Find the thing that helps you remember your mum the most and keep her with you, because you don’t have to let her go, ever. But you also make room in your heart for others to get the privilege of loving you as well.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight

“A sense of unfulfillment”
― Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight

“the curse of the trauma always remained in the shadows, lingering there for a moment when recall occurred, and it could all come rushing back like a Mack truck.”
― Yasmin Angoe, It Ends with Knight

“like Johnny Cade with Ponyboy in S. E. Hinton’s The Outsiders—wanted her to stay gold”
― Yasmin Angoe, Behind These Four Walls

“Gotchu911: Yeah but I don’t like this lady for one. She likes to screw with ppl, sure. But if she kills, it’s to either hide, to get her way, or to clear a way to whatever she wants, not bc she’s compelled to kill. A difference.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Not What She Seems

“But when it comes to people who might make the Tribe bigger and better, people who never give any of us Africans the time of day were it not for our bank accounts and stock options, your father can’t do enough. He always wants to make friends with the wrong kind of people. We don’t have time for friends. We have only ourselves, and history has proved there are people who would rather we be enslaved and indebted to them than be their equals. It’s only a matter of time before it happens. So we get respect by force and by dollar.”
― Yasmin Angoe, They Come at Knight

“Before, I wanted the Tribe to do everything by ourselves, and I still do, but we need partnerships outside of ourselves. It’s imperative we are seen as equals in this world—to those who call themselves First Worlders. We need to be involved in those conversations in addition to creating our own so that we may guide the paths of our destinies.”
― Yasmin Angoe, It Ends with Knight

“Heroes are made in the hour of defeat. Success is, therefore, well described as a series of glorious defeats. —Mahatma Gandhi”
― Yasmin Angoe, They Come at Knight

“Don’t dwell on the bad. Bury those things deep, and forget. But what Mama didn’t tell us was that burying the truths we didn’t want to face would only create a rot that would consume us from within.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Not What She Seems

“In what I call my office or command center, there is a high-level communication setup and a hidden pantry-like room behind my closet wall, which houses my weapons arsenal, passports, and other accoutrements needed for my dispatch work. It slides open when activated by my palm print. The palm must be warm, with a beating pulse. The second room, my guest room, is for appearances only, because I don’t intend to entertain overnight guests.”
― Yasmin Angoe, Her Name Is Knight