Toya Wolfe > Quotes

“We didn't know then that the practice of burying emotions created adults who'd struggle to build meaningful relationships; some of us would eventually completely forget how to access true feelings”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Black kids ain’t got the luxury of not knowing what they want to do,” she said, and I felt stupid. She kept talking, because Mama Pearl was never in the business of making you feel good when she thought you needed a lesson.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“That girl in Roseland had called me a project kid, and it was the one slur I couldn’t get out of my head that whole summer.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Maybe the worst part about growing up in public housing is that people think your body is public too. That even before you are born, your Black body already belongs to the owners of the land. That night, Meechie spent about two hours in jail, and that's all it took to cement his identity.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“That night, he went to jail because he was Black and a boy, and to the police, that fit the description of a criminal. I’d learn that Black kids didn’t get the luxury of appearing childlike and innocent, that from the moment we are born, some people start a clock on how long it’ll take the boys to commit a crime, the girls to seduce.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“I’d learn that so many things that I thought were solid and structured in my life could be broken down, bit by bit, just like those buildings.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Mama Pearl told me that they Chicago Landmarks. I’m writing this letter mostly because I wanna tell you that YOU a landmark too.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Anything can make you vulnerable to name-calling, and those names cut into the skin sometimes, enter the bloodstream. Somehow that summer, I stumbled upon an important fact about naming: it also has the power to build people up.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“I heard someone say, “Cause she from the projects.” That hurt more than those kicks to my side.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“The essence of optimism is that it takes no account of the present but it is a source of inspiration, of vitality and hope where others have resigned. It enables a man to hold his head high, to claim the future for himself and not to abandon it to his enemy.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“The land had returned to its humble beginnings, back to before someone decided to overcrowd it with bricks and gates and too many people.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“The memories won't go away; they're proof that once upon a time, I lived in a brick skyscraper on State Street, in a place where stairwells filled with echoes stampeding gym shoes and harmonizing winos. These memories won't let me believe that I dreamt up Precious, Stacia, and Tonya, but All in Together is over.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Fee, you know what I think? The boys who done already made a plan for they lives, they do better than the ones who get invited into somebody else’s. I ain’t worried about you and no gangs, but if you ain’t thinking about what you want with this life, you might just fall into somebody else’s vision.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“His secret wouldn’t last much longer than it took for his face to heal. I came in for water one afternoon and saw Mama sitting at the kitchen table with that saggy look that she had at the”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Maybe the worst part about growing up in public housing is that people think your body is public too. That even before you are born, your Black body already belongs to the owners of the land. That”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Fee, some kids don’t get parents who protect them.” I nodded, thinking about Tonya. “I wasn’t going to let that happen to you.” She stopped for”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“record or didn’t pay your rent consistently, you wouldn’t be Lease Compliant, and you’d get shuffled around the projects until they were all gone. After the last projects were evacuated, some people squatted in the abandoned buildings or became homeless.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“My brother had walked out on us, had left us for the streets. That day, me and Mama got new names too: them other niggas.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“slowed down and looked at me. “You told her, huh?” That’s the last thing he said to me, that accusation, before he left.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Gail said he could’ve been my dad, and that meant only one thing: that Mr. Brown, Stan, was once Mama’s boyfriend.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“She ain’t here,” she said, and slammed the door in my face. I stood there, my eyes tearing up because she hurt my feelings. I felt stupid and disrespected, and then I started to get scared for Tonya.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“Precious cut into my thoughts and asked, “What your mama planning?” I felt the sting in my eyes. This was a sore subject for me. Mama had plans, I was sure of it, but she hadn’t shared any of them with me.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“remembered what Quan told that kid he called Lil Man, that we had to move because white people wanted to be closer to their jobs. His words would follow me around for years.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“them trains from the South, then this here moving from neighborhood to neighborhood. It’s sheeping. Folks gathering up coloreds and sheeping them this way and that. They done sheeped your brother into prison. Trying to sheep us on further into the South Side.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“I heard the front door open, and Meechie said, “Ma.” She said, “Ma my ass! You got this shit in my house?” “Man—”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“It had hurt my feelings, this intentional distance. I could feel him growing up and away. At least, that’s what I thought was happening. Years later, I’d learn that he had been dealing with violent attacks from the gang in an attempt to get him to join them, and that going downtown to see Chicago landmarks was the last thing on his mind.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“The man who shows up on holidays resembles my brother, and sometimes can access the emotion and memory of who he once was, but mostly, he is the man he decided to become so that he could stay alive.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“He turned around, still walking, and said, “Get yo’ lil ass in the house, we in war.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“He and Mama loved one another, but as he got older, I doubt that Meechie had anyone to go deep with. Since we couldn’t relate to his experience of being assaulted by the police, and being locked up, Meechie stepped farther away from us. It was subtle, but I could feel it.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street

“I nodded but worried that Ms. Patty would take this opportunity to remove me from Precious’s life and fill it with other church kids and cousins and friends whose mothers didn’t have such a personal relationship with her husband.”
― Toya Wolfe, Last Summer on State Street