Maya

“But equal treatment in an unequal society could still foster inequality. Because black men were disproportionately incarcerated and black women disproportionately evicted, uniformly denying housing to applicants with recent criminal or eviction records still had an incommensurate impact on African Americans.”
― Matthew Desmond, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City

“You are growing into consciousness, and my wish for you is that you feel no need to constrict yourself to make other people comfortable.”
― Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me

“One of the things that confirmed Hyacinth’s suspicion that America was an evil, lonely place was that people were islands unto themselves. And so when Avril drifted away, there was no friend or neighbor or pastor or coworker to reach out to and ask after her child.”
― Naomi Jackson, The Star Side of Bird Hill

“...nor do I want to suggest that the Amish are perfect people or that their way of life is perfect. What I want to recommend are some Amish principles:
1) They have preserved their families and communities.
2) They have maintained the practices of neighbourhood.
3) They have maintained the domestic arts of kitchen and garden, household and homestead.
4) They have limited their use of technology so as not to displace or alienate available human labour or available free source of power (the sun, wind, water, and so on).
5) They have their farms to a scale that is compatible both with the practice of neighborhood and with the optimum use of low-power technology.
6) By the practices and limits already mentioned, they have limited their costs.
7) They have educated their children to live at home and serve their communities.
8) They esteem farming as both a practical art and a spiritual discipline.

These principles define a world to be lived by human beings, not a world to be exploited by managers, stockholders, and experts.”
― Wendell Berry, Bringing it to the Table: On Farming and Food