Art is not living. It is the use of living.
Black women are programmed to define ourselves within this male attention and to compete with each other for it rather than to recognize and move upon our common interests.
Black writers, of whatever quality, who step outside the pale of what black writers are supposed to write about, or who black writers are supposed to be, are condemned to silences in black literary circles that are as total and as destructive as any imposed by racism.
But the question is a matter of the survival and the teaching. That's what our work comes down to. No matter where we key into it, it's the same work, just different pieces of ourselves doing it.
But, on the other hand, I get bored with racism too and recognize that there are still many things to be said about a Black person and a White person loving each other in a racist society.
Each time you love, love as deeply as if it were forever.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood.
If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive.
It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.In our work and in our living, we must recognize that difference is a reason for celebration and growth, rather than a reason for destruction.
Let's really start getting past the shibboleths and taboos. They don't really matter.
Life is very short and what we have to do must be done in the now.
Our visions begin with our desires.
The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot.
The quality of light by which we scrutinize our lives has direct bearing upon the product which we live, and upon the changes which we hope to bring about through those lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
When I dare to be powerful - to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Your silence will not protect you.