Venessia

“truck…Black soliders returning from American’s wars abroad were tarred and feathered…Black soldiers returning from America’s wars in uniform were castrated and lynched…Brave Black soldiers had their medals of honor retracted and denied   So Truman passed a law not for Black people…we have always been better than the country we served…but to tell the whites who thought it more important to be white than united…that Black people are an integral if not essential part of this nation…And we are to be accepted…and honored…for the historic good wishes and sacrifices we offered America…Not only fifty years ago”
― Nikki Giovanni, Blues: For All the Changes: New Poems – Poetry That Galvanizes and Comforts, Inspires and Unifies

“Big don't mean ugly, and thin sho don't mean pretty. If a person wants to be pretty, they gotta walk pretty, talk pretty and act pretty. Can't nobody take pretty from you.”
― Daniel Black, Perfect Peace

“Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you're a man, you take it.”
― Malcolm X, Malcolm X Speaks: Selected Speeches and Statements

“Much of what was said did not matter, and that much of what mattered could not be said.”
― Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity