Jalisa

“Too few are asking us the questions to get to the depths of black queer boys' traumas. What is it that you desire but have been denied? What is that you need to feel safe? How do you actually feel about the person you had sex with? What is it about him you desire? What are the sources of your pain? Who hurt you? Who first told you that your sexual desires and attractions were wrong? Does it feel better when you use a condom? Do you feel more connected when you don't use a condom at all? What is it about that particular connection that fulfills you? To ask those questions would mean black boys and men would have to be seen, first, as bleeding, crying, vulnerable and sometimes resilient human persons. We are breakable...Black same-sex love is revolutionary because we must first convince ourselves we are deserving of receiving and giving what has been denied us for so long.”
― Darnell L. Moore, No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America

“When mostly white donors gave money, out of a type of love that really resembled guilt, their hearts were not bent toward my family and neighbors necessarily. They were moved by the emotional vulnerability of other white people who claimed proximity to Camden's people and stories by subjecting themselves to the way of life in an impoverished city.”
― Darnell L. Moore, No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America

“There is no way to repress pleasure and expect liberation, satisfaction, or joy.”
― Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good

“I believe that all organizing is science fiction - that we are shaping the future we long for and have not yet experienced.”
― Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good