What I want young women and girls to know is . . . you’re going to walk into many rooms in your life and career where you may be the only one who looks like you or who has had the experiences you’ve had. But you remember that when you are in those rooms, you are not alone. We are all in that room with you applauding you on. Cheering your voice. And just so proud of you. So you use that voice and be strong–Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States
Perhaps, like me, you’ve procrastinated your plans to emigrate to a healthy democracy. Or maybe, like most of us, you’re just queasy after years being force-fed for-profit, click-bait media that lionizes blowhards, puts scare quotes around “facts,” and sows doubt in our elections. Sometimes it seems as if the only good news is you can tune out by binge-watching Schitt’s Creek.
To have privilege in one or more areas does not mean you are wholly privileged. Surrendering to the acceptance of privilege is difficult, but it is really all that is expected . . . the acknowledgement of my privilege is not a denial of ways I have been and am marginalized, the ways I have suffered.
–Roxane Gay
Protests and looting naturally capture attention. But the real rage smolders in meetings . . .
white rage doesn’t have to take to the streets and face rubber bullets to be heard. Instead, white rage has access to the courts, police, legislatures, and governors, who cast its efforts as noble . . .
–Jesmyn Ward
The fate of millions of people–indeed the future of the black community itself–may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society.
–Michelle Alexander
The Gloria Sirens 