Angela

“We must not reach for a status that is only bestowed by a white supremacist system that really despises us. We must resist. To claim not only our alignment with n****s, but our identity as N****s ourselves is the greatest act of defiance; it is our sacred duty as descendants of enslaved people, freedom fighters, street corner hustlers, and our own grandparents. Ultimately N**** theory— and praxis— is what will get us free.” - Melina Abdullah”
― Jody Armour, N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law

“Our broken criminal justice system has rejected individual justice and discretion it requires, and instead insists on robotic and inflexible mandatory sentencing, sentencing guidelines, death sentences, life without possibility of parole, the actual or de facto elimination of sentence modifications, pardons, commutations, expungement, and record sealing.” - Lary Krasner”
― Jody Armour, N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law

“White-supremacist-patriarchal-heteronormative-capitalism socializes us to aspire to “good Negro” status. It convince little Black girls from East Oakland to graduate from Howard—summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, to pledge the oldest Black sorority, to earn PhDs, to be in the “right” rooms…” - Melina Abdullah”
― Jody Armour, N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law

“So I say call me a Nigga despite not fitting this popular sterotype— despite my lack of a criminal record, my light-skin privilege (I’ve been called a yellow nigga, a sand nigga, and a Spic), my Ivy League diplomas, my respectable salary befitting the occupant of Roy P. Crocker Chair at the University of Southern California Law School, my residence in Black Beverly Hills, my three sons who attended exclusive private high schools and colleges, my respectable rims, my fluency in “talking White,” and my red-headed Irish Catholic mom. Thanks to my lighter shade, academic pedigree, chaired professorship, tax bracket, ZIP code, speech patterns, and mixed ancestory, I am not what cognitive science would call a “prototypical” nigga.”
― Jody Armour, N*gga Theory: Race, Language, Unequal Justice, and the Law