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Everywhere, everywhere, children are the scorned people of the earth.

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Nobody loves the head of a dandelion. Maybe because they are so many, strong, and soon.

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That anybody white could take your whole self for anything that came to mind. Not just work, kill, or maim you, but dirty you so bad you forgot who yo...more

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As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.

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The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, you...more

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I don't think anybody cares about unwed mothers unless they're black or poor. The question is not morality, the question is money. That's what we're u...more

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In this country American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate.

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Anger ... it's a paralyzing emotion ... you can't get anything done. People sort of think it's an interesting, passionate, and igniting feeling — I do...more

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It comforts everybody to think of all Negroes as dirt poor, and to regard those who were not, who earned good money and kept it, as some kind of shame...more

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Those white things have taken all I had or dreamed," she said, "and broke my heartstrings too. There is no bad luck in the world but whitefolks.

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Whitepeople believed that whatever the manners, under every dark skin was a jungle. Swift unnavigable waters, swinging screaming baboons, sleeping sna...more

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Here was an ugly little girl asking for beauty....A little black girl who wanted to rise up out of the pit of her blackness and see the world with blu...more