Natalie

“He died violent and young and desperate, just like we all knew he'd die someday.”
― S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

“Dying well is easy,it only takes a moment of courage. It’s living well that I couldn’t do. What’s death compared to that.”
― Brent Weeks, The Way of Shadows

“Though the white liberal imagination likes to feel temporarily bad about black suffering, there really is no mode of empathy that can replicate the daily strain of knowing that as a black person you can be killed for simply being black: no hands in your pockets, no playing music, no sudden movements, no driving your car, no walking at night, no walking in the day, no turning onto this street, no entering this building, no standing your ground, no standing here, no standing there, no talking back, no playing with toy guns, no living while black. Eleven”
― Jesmyn Ward, The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks about Race

“I saw Dad's eyes widen just a fraction when he heard my voice catch. He glanced at me but quickly turned away. He didn't want me to see his reaction, but I did, and I'll never forget it. In that brief glimpse, I could see what he was thinking behind that fixed stare. There would be no grandkids, there would be no more Creed family bloodline, nothing else to look forward to. From that point on I'd become the last, most devastating disappointment in what he thought his life had added up to--one overwhelming failure.”
― Perry Moore, Hero