blake

“It is a strange but persistent thing: to be possessed, desired, revolting. This triad of relations to power has been a long burden of Blackness, and its people.”
― Imani Perry, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People

“A romance of Africa, a romance of America, a fetish of nationalism, myths of superior origins, or rankings of authenticity or admixture-each type of posturing, myth, and hierarchy is a danger because they lead us to either believe the funhouse distortion of the blue-eyed mirror or run away from the ugliness of history.”
― Imani Perry, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People

“You see? Blue is a portal. Our ancestors have worked so hard from the other side to keep us going; this is how we tend to them in return.”
― Imani Perry, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People

“Movement is divine word. To call organizing for freedom "the movement" was a strike of genius. The moves in our culture of art and performance-be they dancing, playing jazz, blues, or hambone, singing or hoofing-are all the art of living. And forgive us, Lord, for the Western sacrilege of sometimes being mere spectators to that divinity. It beckons participation.”
― Imani Perry, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People