To Tell The Truth Is To Become

In America, The Traditional Routes To Black Identity Have Hardly Been Normal. Suicide (disappearance By Imitation, Or Willed Extinction), Violence (hysterical Religiosity, Crime, Armed Revolt), And Exemplary Moral Courage; None Of These Is Normal.

There Are Two Ways To Worry Words. One Is Hoping For The Greatest Possible Beauty In What Is Created. The Other Is To Tell The Truth.

Like A Lot Of Black Women, I Have Always Had To Invent The Power My Freedom Requires.

Reproductive Choice Is Not Some Trendy Item To Toss Or Keep Around The House. If You Cannot Get An Education Or A Job, If You Cannot Choose What Will Or Will Not Happen With Your Own Body, Then What Freedom Do You Have?

If We Lived In A Democratic State Our Language Would Have To Hurtle, Fly, Curse, And Sing, In All The Common American Names, All The Undeniable And Representative And Participating Voices Of Everybody Here.