Sometimes words can help you put words to action, which might be exactly what you need.

---

Sometimes words can be daggers that pierce through injustice.

They can disarm you with love.

When tackling such a thorny issue of race and racism, words are powerful. They can unify or divide us.

Sometimes words can cut through race and racism with more insight and clarity. Sometimes words can have electrical impact. They can help you broach uncomfortable conversations about race and racism. About identity and representation.

Sometimes words can help you work toward a better world for black people from all walks of life.

Sometimes words can leave you with inspiration to help create personal and societal transformations. Sometimes they can help you put words to action, which in this day and age, might be exactly what you need.

Here are 11 thought-provoking gems from black writers I read.

(Note: If you’ve not read the books these writers have written, I recommend them. They are must-reads.)

1.

“We’re told non-stop that if we want to be more successful, black women should modify their behaviors in this way or that. We should use this tone or avoid using those words so people don’t think of us as angry or aggressive.” – Sophie Williams, Millennial Black

2.

“Whiteness is an advantage and privilege because you have made it so, not because the universe demands it.” – Michael Eric Dyson, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon To White America

3.

“White people think it is a compliment when they do not ‘see’ you as a black person.” Morgan Jerkins, This Will Be My Undoing

I heard it again this week.

A fiancé of my black friend told me, “I don’t see you as a black woman.”

I want to punch white people like this guy.

Stripping away our blackness is not a compliment.

Here’s something I can’t stand:

I can’t stand it when a white person tells me, “I don’t see you as black” even though he can see that I’m black just by looking at me. I can’t stand it when white people look at me puzzled when I ask them to stop saying, “I don’t see you as black”.

Here’s something to think about:

I don’t want you to strip away my race. My blackness. When you say, ‘I don’t see color,’ you’re saying, ‘Who you are does not matter and I don’t see you for who you are.’

4.

“How can a white person imagine what it feels like to be black? That’s virtually impossible.” Rebecca Stevens, One Thing That Every White Person Need To Do At Least Once

Rebecca Stevens writes about race and racism on Medium. Her words are worth reading.

5.

“Our humanity is worth a little discomfort, it’s actually worth a lot of discomfort.” – Ijeoma Olou, So You Want To Talk About Race

To say that I love this book is an understatement. Ijeoma’s book is my favorite book on how to talk about race and racism with white people.

Should you read it?

Yes. Yes. Yes.

6.

“White silence is violence. It actively protects the system. It says I am okay with the way things are because they do not negatively affect me and because I enjoy the benefits I receive with white privilege.” – Layla F. Saad, Me and White Supremacy

7.

“Black women know what it means to love ourselves in a world that hates us.” – Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage

8.

“I have had reviews in the past that have accused me of not writing about white people… as though our lives have no meaning and no depth without the white gaze. And I’ve spent my entire writing life trying to make sure that the white gaze was not the dominant one in any of my books.” – Toni Morrison

Morrison said the above gem to journalists who kept asking her, “When are you going to put aside your blackness and write about things that are more relevant to white people?”

She was being asked when she was going to write books that were not centrally about black people, outside the white gaze.

When an article or a podcast or a book or a movie features mainly white people, white centering says the article or the podcast or the book or the movie is for everyone. But when a black woman or man features in these creations, white centering says it’s only relevant for black people. As if, as Morrison said, our lived experiences have no meaning.

9.

“If feminism can understand the patriarchy, it’s important to question why so many feminists struggle to understand whiteness as a political structure in the very same way.” – Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race

I’m a teacher. I’m confident and vocal, but I still find myself tiptoeing around most feminist spaces. I still find myself holding back because the white gaze is so blinding.

10.

“Funny. Slave masters thought they were making a difference in black people’s lives too. Saving them from their ‘wild African ways.’ Same shit, different century. I wish people like them would stop thinking that people like me need saving.” – Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give

Angie is talking about the countless email responses I get from white readers out of guilt. They want to unload their guilt onto me. So they can feel better about themselves or about what’s wrong in the world.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg.

These whites also have an impulsive desire to fix the problem of racism.

To be the hero of the story.

They think black people need saving.

All emails I receive out of the desire to help me have one thing in common: they center themselves as the benevolent savior, a hero, or a messiah of black people. After reading these emails, I feel that I’m destined to live as inferior unless I’m rescued by a white person’s intervention.

When the desire to rescue black people comes from a place of superiority, it’s condescending.

This kind of thinking is disempowering to black people.

In your antiracism work, if your intention is to make yourself good or become the hero of the story or have your emotional needs satisfied, then your action is dishonest.

It’s a conquest for heroism.

Behind your intention lies the racist ideology that you know what’s good for black people and what they need.

There’s nothing heroism about that.

11.

“A racist is not who a person is. A racist is what a person is, what a person is saying, what a person is doing. Racist is not fixed category like “not racist,” which is steeped denial. Only racists say they are not racists. Only the racist lives by the heartbeat of denial.” – Ibram X. Kendi, How To Be An Antiracist

The Times described Kendi’s book as “the most courageous book to date on the problem of race in the western mind.” In my opinion, every person, regardless of race, in every corner of the world should read it.

---

Book recommendations:

• Sophie Williams, Millennial Black
• Michael Eric Dyson, Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon To White America
• Morgan Jerkins, This Will Be My Undoing
• Ijeoma Olou, So You Want To Talk About Race
• Layla F. Saad, Me and White Supremacy
• Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage
• Reni Eddo-Lodge, Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race
• Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give
• Ibram X. Kendi, How To Be An Antiracist

---

What are your favorite quotes from black writers? Share in the comment section.