Nathan McCall > Quotes

“Character displays "the weighty impatience of having to explain something that should already be understood.”
― Nathan McCall, Them

“Much later, when I thought about it, I realized that my folks were typical of their generation of parents: Their idea of raising children was making sure we were clothed, fed, and protected. They didn't focus much on us unless we were sick or had done something wrong. They didn't hold conversations with us. Love was understood rather than expressed, and values were transmitted by example, not word of mouth.”
― Nathan McCall, Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America

“Lately, he had been thinking. He'd been thinking that his life didn't reflect everything going on inside his head.”
― Nathan McCall

“An idea? An idea won't get you nothing but another idea. You need money, cash, to make anything happen in this doggone world.”
― Nathan McCall, Them

“A man don't always have to eat what he's standing life. If he wants, a man can fix a meal of his own choosing.”
― Nathan McCall, Them

“They remind me of it everywhere I go. Every time I step in an elevator and a white woman bunches up in the corner like she thinks I wanna rape her, I’m forced to think about it. Every time I walk into stores, the suspicious looks in white shopkeepers’ eyes make me think about it. Every time I walk past whites sitting in their cars, I hear the door locks clicking and I think about it. I can’t get away from it, man. I stay so mad all the time because I’m forced to spend so much time and energy reacting to race. I hate it. It wearies me. But there’s no escape, man. No escape.”
― Nathan McCall, Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America

“The job in getting people to fight and have faith is in making them believe in what life has made them feel, making them feel that their feelings are as good as others’.”
― Nathan McCall, Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America