Kate

“Just move on. Don’t worry about it.” He talks about the girl he’s dating now, Ellen, who has a cat obsession and “doesn’t really have a job or anything, but she’s very demure and nice.” “Demure?” “Yeah. She’s demure. That’s what I said. And she has a friend who’s—” “No, thanks. I don’t need a demure girl. Get out of here with that shit.”
― Susan Muaddi Darraj, Behind You Is the Sea

“He did everything. He studied hard. He went to Harvard. He got married. He had children. He worked. He dreamed big. He pulled his bootstraps all the way up from his humble beginnings to the presidency. He lived the American Dream. And he was called an African Witch Doctor. People asked for his birth certificate. A congressman shouted at him "YOU LIE!" He faced the most recalcitrant Republican Congress ever that was elected by a constituency that wanted to "take the country back."If a black man can be elected as guardian of the American empire, do exactly that, and still not be shielded from racism, what hope is supposed to be left?”
― Mychal Denzel Smith, Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man's Education

“Another reason Westerners are tempted to compromise is because we tend to view the world dualistically. Things are true or false, right or wrong, good or bad. We have little patience for ambiguity or for the unsettling reality that values change over time.”
― E. Randolph Richards

“What would we happen if we reframed the way we understand black male life in a way that took mental health seriously? If we looked outside and didn't see ruthless gangbangers, but teenage boys left hopeless and giving themselves suicide missions. If instead of chastising young men for fighting over sneakers we asked why they felt worthless and unseen without them. If we didn't label them junkies, but rather recognized their need for affirmation.”
― Mychal Denzel Smith, Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching: A Young Black Man's Education