Black Lives Quotes

“I can hear you say, "What a horrible, irresponsible bastard!" And you're right. I leap to agree with you. I am one of the most irresponsible beings that ever lived. Irresponsibility is part of my invisibility; any way you face it, it is a denial. But to whom can I be responsible, and why should I be, when you refuse to see me? And wait until I reveal how truly irresponsible I am. Responsibility rests upon recognition, and recognition is a form of agreement.”
― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“That invisibility to which I refer occurs because of a peculiar disposition of the eyes of those with whom I come in contact. A matter of the construction of their INNER eyes, those eyes with which they look through their physical eyes upon reality.”
― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in a circus sideshow, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination- indeed, everything and anything except me.”
― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“It is in racists' best interest to maintain white supremacy at all costs. They will defend it with their lives, but ONLY after they've defended it with ours.”
― Darnell Lamont Walker

“Then too, you're constantly being bumped against by those of poor vision. Or again, you doubt if you really exist. You wonder whether you aren't simply a phantom in other people's minds. Say, a figure in a nightmare which the sleeper tries with all his strength to destroy.”
― Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

“It used to be that a man could keep out of trouble if he behaved himself. Now he will only keep out of trouble if he behaves himself, the police behave themselves, and court behaves itself.”
― Agona Apell, The Success Genome Unravelled: Turning men from rot to rock

“That's the essence of being profiled: judging someone on first impressions. So again, you are being asked to do better than the cop who pulled you over for the "broken taillight". Don't you go around profiling all cops!”
― D.L. Hughley, How Not to Get Shot: And Other Advice From White People

“Navigating joy and trauma simultaneously - #aBlacklifemanifesto”
― malebo sephodi

“Some folks struggled disproportionately, carrying things that others couldn't even lift.”
― Diane Marie Brown, Black Candle Women

“Stop killing my children. Have it all. My civil liberties. My basic human rights. It shouldn't be this way, but it is. And though I will struggle to refrain from telling you how much of an ingenious coward you are; you win.”
― A.K. Kuykendall